


What Goes Together Better Than Cold And Dark?

by FredAndGinger



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: (I'm trying real hard not to put anything /too/ graphic in here), (especially the rape scenes), Also Baby Tooth and Sandy are like the literal best, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Violence, Dreams and Nightmares, God i'm a terrible person, Hurt/Comfort, Jack accepts Pitch's proposal story, Jack/Bunny endgame, M/M, Pitch is a terrible person, Please don't judge me, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, also I'm not super into Jack/Bunny, especially any les miz fans reading this because that's what they thought this was, just saying, no magical healing dick in this fic, so the ship is not gonna be a /huge/ part of this, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-08-12 13:05:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7935733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FredAndGinger/pseuds/FredAndGinger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“You really think they’ll believe in us?” Jack asked, interrupting the man. </i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <i>“Of course. Together, we will be unstoppable!” </i></p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <i>“I’ll join you.” Jack said, but before Pitch could celebrate he added, “On a few conditions.”</i></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jack accepts Pitch's proposal fic. Jack thinks he can change Pitch into a better person while still ensuring that his former friends, the Guardians, don't disappear from existence. Pitch has other ideas.</p>
<p>(All of the rape/non-con is between Pitch and Jack)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Someone should have stopped me. That being said, I wasn't stopped and this will update every week sometime on Friday.

Jack stood at the edge of a cliff somewhere in Antarctica.He’d gotten off course when flying and he wasn’t quite sure where exactly he was, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was the memory box in his hands and the words spoken to him just an hour ago.

_“Jack, where did you get that? Where’s Baby Tooth?” Tooth had asked, her eyes wide, locked on the box. “Oh Jack, what have you done?”_

_“That is why you were late? You were with Pitch?” North asked, his voice rising slightly in anger._

_“No, listen, listen…” Jack scrambled to come up with an explanation, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”_

_They were Guardians, right? Surely they knew that he would never have abandoned them or Baby Tooth. They’d let him explain._

_“He has to go.” Bunny said, his voice like ice._

_“What?” Jack gasped. They weren’t even going to let him try to help?_

_“We should **never** have trusted you!” Bunny yelled, shaking his fist in Jack’s face. _

_Jack backed up._

_“Easter is new beginnings, new life. This is about hope. And now it’s gone.” Bunny seemed to lose steam as he talked, sighing at the end and looking back at Jack once before walking away._

_Jack looked at the two remaining Guardians for some kind of reassurance, for someone to be the voice of reason. Sure, Bunny was mad. But the others had to listen, right? They’d hear him out, right?_

_They both turned away._

_Jack dropped North’s carving and flew off. Of course no one would listen to him, when had anyone ever done that before? It was stupid for him to even hope..._

And here he was, on a cliff in Antarctica, ready to throw away the thing that got him in this mess in the first place. He was just so angry and guilty and _confused_. What was even going on lately? He was Jack Frost, he didn’t need the Guardians, and the Guardians certainly didn’t need him. 

He looked at the box. Maybe it had some answers. If only he could figure out how to open it.

“I thought this might happen,” A familiar British voice said from behind him. “They never really believed in you. I was just trying to show you that. But I understand.”

Jack whirled around and shot ice at him, “You don’t understand anything!” He yelled as Pitch disappeared, just to reappear behind him. 

“I don’t know what it’s like to be cast out?” Pitch yelled back, returning fire with his dark dream sand as Jack continued to attack him.

Jack let loose a battle cry and shot at Pitch with all his might. The boogeyman raised a shield of nightmare sand just in time. 

“And not be believed in?” He continued through the smoke. 

Jack looked around wildly for the source of the voice, leveling his staff against Pitch when he finally saw him. 

“To long for a family.” Pitch’s voice was raw with emotion, which made Jack pause. Maybe Pitch really did know what he was going through. Maybe he could help Pitch become a better person. And maybe Pitch could help him, too.

“All those years in the shadows I thought, no one else knows what this feels like.” Pitch said desperately. 

But Jack knew. 

“But now I know I was wrong. You don’t have to be alone, Jack. I believe in you. And I know children will too.” 

“Believe in me?” Jack asked, a tiny bit of hope lacing his voice

“Yes! Look at what we can do!” Pitch gestured at the huge ice and sand statue that towered over them, the leftovers of their battle. “What goes together better than _cold_ and _dark_? We can make them believe!” Pitch’s idea seemed to be gaining speed and Jack wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. 

“You really think they’ll believe in us?” Jack asked, interrupting the man. 

“Of course. Together, we will be unstoppable!” 

Jack was quiet for a moment, contemplating. On one hand, he had been fighting against Pitch for a reason. Of course he didn’t want the kids to suffer and be afraid, he wasn’t a monster. But he could change Pitch, he knew he could. Pitch was just misunderstood. Years alone and despised would turn anyone insane. Jack could give the man the second chance that the Guardians never gave either of them. 

And besides, it wasn’t like the Guardians were going to win this fight. They were too weak. Jack could strike a deal so both sides were believed in, he was certain. 

“I’ll join you.” Jack said, but before Pitch could celebrate he added, “On a few conditions.” 

“Which are…?” Pitch prompted. 

“The Guardians must be allowed to be believed in. We can’t do to them what they did to us all those years, even if we want to. Besides, wouldn’t victory taste even sweeter if they were still around to struggle?” Jack asked, grinning a little. He harbored more than a little ill will for the Guardians at the moment. “It wouldn’t be fun if we didn’t have some entertainment, right?”

“Alright.” Pitch agreed, readily. “The Guardians are rather entertaining.”

“And you’ve got to give Tooth back her fairies.” Jack added. He hated to see them in those cages. He wanted them to be home, with Tooth, even if they weren’t able to use their powers to the fullest.

“I agree, but you must meet my conditions as well.” Pitch countered. 

“What conditions?” Jack asked. 

“You must deliver the message to the Guardians of our alliance, and then cease all contact with them. We can’t have them brainwashing you to their side, can we?” Pitch asked with a devious smirk, “And they are allowed a _maximum_ of 500 believers at any one time. I’ll send my fearlings to any others who decide to believe. And I can’t be having amateurs like you going off and trying to scare the children, so I’ll be doing that. Just keep the nights cold and cloudy, I don’t like looking at the moon.”

“Alright, that sounds fair.” Jack agreed. He saw how they functioned on a few hundred believers, he knew that they’d be weak, but they’d be alive, and he wouldn’t even have to really do anything. That was all Jack could ask for. “Can I ask one more thing?” 

“Yes?” Pitch asked. He sounded slightly irritated, but Jack shrugged it off. Pitch generally sounded like that in all of their encounters. 

“Leave the Bennett family in Burgess alone.” Jack said. He didn’t know why, but he’d always felt attached to them. Pitch nodded and held out his hand. 

“Deal.” He said. Jack shook the offered hand and Pitch grinned wickedly before melting into the shadows.

“Why don’t you go tell the Guardians the good news?” Pitch called, his voice seeming to echo from all around Jack, up from the shadows on the snow. Jack nodded.

And with that, Jack Frost flew off once again to see the Guardians. 

...

“Do you think he’s okay?” Tooth asked North as she flew back and forth in his office, like an anxious hummingbird. 

“He will be fine, Bunny has been through worse than this.” North responded. Their friend had turned into a tiny little animal, all cute and cuddly. He’d gone to sulk under a sofa or something and North wasn’t about to bother him. 

“Not Aster, _Jack_!” Tooth exclaimed, “He’s all alone out there and we didn’t even let him explain! What if Pitch finds him?” 

“He will be fine. He was alone for three hundred years, Jack knows how to take care of himself.” North replied. Tooth was about to respond, but then a great gust of wind blew open the shutters and hundred of little tooth fairies were carried in on the breeze. 

“My fairies!” Tooth cried, gathering up an armful and hugging them to her chest. “Oh, I’ve been so worried!” 

“They’d have been here sooner, but I thought you were at the Tooth Palace, so we got a little off track.” Jack said, gaining Tooth and North’s attention. He was rambling he needed to focus. “I uh, got them for you.” 

“Oh Jack!” Tooth exclaimed, flying up to him, but not daring to let go of her fairies, “How did you get them?” 

“I made a deal with Pitch.” Jack admitted, “You’re fighting a losing battle, guys. And like Bunny said, you shouldn’t have trusted me, because now I’m all caught up in it.”

“Jack…” Tooth said, reaching out for him, but he moved out of the way. 

“If you look at the globe you’ll notice some lights coming back. I made Pitch agree to allow you five hundred believers, but that’s all.” Jack crossed his arms. It was hard to stick to his convictions with Tooth and North looking at him like that, like he’d just kicked their puppy or something.

“Jack, you are not a bad person.” North said, weighing in for the first time, “Sure, you are on Naughty list, but you are not _bad_.”

“I don’t have to be bad.” Jack countered, “I just have to get out of the way.”

“Why would you do this, Jack? I thought we were friends.” Tooth sounded close to tears. Jack frowned and leaned back, ready for the wind to take him as soon as the fairies stopped pouring into the workshop.

“I thought so too. But none of you understand, none of you know how it feels to be all alone for so long. Pitch does, Pitch knows. I know I can help him and he’s already proved he can help me. We’ll be better off without you _Guardians_ around.” Jack said, bitterness seeping into his voice. But then he looked wistfully to the window, “And maybe someone will finally see me.”

All the fairies were safely on the floor and the wind picked up Jack, pulling him out the window. Tooth and North called his name, but he ignored them, headed full speed back to Pitch’s underground lair. Full speed home.

…

Jack returned, floating in on the wind to see Pitch waiting for him. The man smiled when he saw the frost sprite and Jack’s heart soared. 

“Jack!” Pitch grinned, “How did it go?” As he asked this, he pulled the boy in question into his arms in an embrace and kissed his cheek. Jack felt his magic rush up to his cheeks, coating them in blue frost. 

“Well, they aren’t happy.” Jack said as Pitch let him go, “But it’s not like they can do anything about it.”

“Very true Jack, there’s nothing they can do.” Pitch said, overcome with glee. Jack grinned, Pitch was so excitable.He should have tried to befriend him years ago. “Come with me, I have something to show you!” 

Jack followed Pitch down a tunnel to a door. It was wooden, like most of the doors in the lair, but with a snowflake carved into it. Pitch opened it to reveal a room, dimly lit by candles, but stark white and covered with ice. There was furniture, a bed, table, and dresser all for Jack! He looked to Pitch for confirmation. 

“This is your room. Do you like it?” The man asked. 

“Oh man,” Jack said, “I’ve never had my own room before.”

“And there’s one more thing.” Pitch said, gaining Jack’s attention. He slipped his hand into the shadows and pulled out a small cage. In it was Baby Tooth. 

“Baby Tooth?” Jack asked, “I thought you returned all the fairies.”

“She knew too much, but I knew how you cared for her, so I couldn’t bring myself to hurt the poor thing.” Pitch said. Even Jack knew he was lying, but he thought that maybe the man was trying to be good, on his behalf. And after all, it’s the thought that counts, right? 

“So what are you going to do with her?” Jack prompted. 

“I was wondering if you’d like to take care of her.” Pitch said, holding the cage out as an offering, “I don’t know the first thing about fairies.”

Jack took the cage. “Yeah, alright. Thank you, Pitch.” 

“You’re welcome.” The man said, “Now, I’ll leave you alone to get acquainted with your new room. In the morning, we will try to find some new believers.”

With that, Pitch took his leave, closing the door behind him. Jack turned his attention to the fairy in the cage. 

“Hey, Baby Tooth.” Jack said softly. The fairy harrumphed at him and turned away. She didn’t seem too intimidating though, as she was about two inches tall and shivering. “Are you cold?” 

Baby Tooth refused to answer, but Jack knew she was. He set the cage down lightly and went through his new things, looking for something to keep her warm. He found a handkerchief in the drawer of the table and slid it through the bars. 

“Go on, take it.” Jack said as Baby Tooth ignored his offering. Eventually she succumbed and took the handkerchief, wrapping it around herself like a blanket. She sat facing away from him. Oh well, he’d try again in the morning. At least she was warm. He decided to take it a step further and made a hook out of ice, close to one of the torches on the wall, and hung her cage there so she would be warmed by the fire. 

Jack yawned and crawled into his new bed. It was time to sleep. And without the Sandman around, Jack’s night was a dreamless one.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack finds out there's a downside to his deal with Pitch. But it's nothing he can't handle, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I didn't update in time, I haven't even had a chance to open my laptop. But here it is! Regular schedule resumes Friday (hopefully).

Jack fell into his new life with great enthusiasm, loving every second of it. Sure, there were ups and downs (ups being more snow days, downs being the general aura of terror that followed most of the children Jack interacted with), but it was far better than his life had been for the past three hundred years, so he felt that he had no reason to complain.

Pitch had been very affectionate with him, showering him with hugs and kisses whenever the opportunity arose. It was odd, at first. Despite Jack’s overwhelming joy at the attention, he had to admit that. Over time he grew used to it though, maybe that was how Pitch normally was, but he’d just been dealt a bad hand with his powers. After all, fear wasn’t really a _bad_ thing, was it? It taught kids of the dangers of the world, how there could be something or someone lurking in the shadows. They had to be cautious. 

Despite those oddities, Jack was happy. The world was colder, which suited him just fine. His former friends, the Guardians, hadn’t been making too much of a fuss, and he finally had someone to talk to. So what if he felt the Man in the Moon’s weighty stare every night? He’d just hide inside, problem solved.

There was only one major thing that Jack could think to complain about, and that was that Pitch was never home. He was off establishing a reputation for himself, so that left Jack to his job (which didn’t take long) and to the house. Well, it was more of a tunnel system than a house. He would wander the halls mapping them out. 

Sometimes he’d talk to the Wind, his only constant companion, but now he felt the need for non-rhetorical conversation. A taste of real interaction had left him hungry for more and his one sided talks with the Wind were not doing it for him. Jack tried to talk to Baby Tooth, but she was furious with him and refused to speak. It was a nightmare trying to figure out if she needed to eat, and if she did, _what_ she needed. She eventually accepted a few blueberries the size of her head and water, but she did so with as much contempt as a three inch fairy could muster. 

The gold canister that held his teeth still called out his name every so often, but it seemed less frequent now, as if it knew no one would answer. Jack wasn’t sure if Baby Tooth could unlock it for him, but now was not the time to be asking her for favors. He loved the little fairy, but he was not about to risk his forgotten memories in her hands, with how mad she was at the moment. 

Jack sighed one day, two months after the agreement, as he wandered the halls. He was bored. None of the children _anywhere_ seemed to want to play in the chilly air, he’d already talked to the Wind, and Baby Tooth was keeping her silence. There was nothing to do. When he first started living with Pitch he might have tried to pull some pranks, but the man did not seem to appreciate them _whatsoever_ and Jack wasn’t quite ready to test his luck. Not yet, at least. 

“Nothing fun ever happens anymore.” Jack sighed to the Wind after he made his way outside. The Wind seemed to try to comfort him, swirling around. A breezy “There, there”, or at least, that’s how Jack imagined it. He sat with the Wind a while longer, consulting with it on ways to liven up his life a little more, until the sun set. Jack headed back inside, thinking to eat with Baby Tooth and maybe try to goad her into talking. 

…

Baby Tooth had noticed a change in Jack over the two months she’d been locked here. She wasn’t sure if it was the Stockholm Syndrome setting in, or if she really didn’t think Jack was a terrible person (after all, they’d been friends before this whole fiasco) but she was getting worried about the frost sprite. He wasn’t acting himself, he hardly tried anything mischievous, and though he tried to coax words or a laugh out of her, he never pushed too hard. It was like he was afraid of something. 

Why should he be afraid of Pitch though? Sure, she had a limited view, being stuck in a cage and all, but he’d never been explicitly mean to Jack. She’d almost broken her silence to ask him what he was afraid of, but he hardly understood her language, and besides, she was still angry with him. 

Jack talked to her still, and she understood him just fine. He seemed to be stuck on wondering if supernatural beings die, especially after finding out she needed food. Baby Tooth had hardly any answers for him, even if she would talk to him. All she knew was that Toothiana fed her, so she would keep feeding herself. Just in case. 

That night, Jack brought her blackberries and a tiny paper cup of water, which was more than enough for her. She wondered where he got these things, especially since he was keeping the world cold. He talked to her for a while, telling her about his day and how he saw a few tooth fairies out over Scotland. This warmed her heart a little and she listened. Despite her lack of communication to Jack, his visits were the highlight of her day. Whenever he wasn’t there, all she had to do was stare at the white walls and wish things had gone differently. 

Just then their routine was interrupted by Pitch slamming the door open. Baby Tooth jumped in surprise and wrapped her handkerchief tighter around herself. She was afraid, no, _terrified_ of the man, and she could tell that he was furious. Jack whirled around to face him, holding his staff defensively. 

“Oh, now _you_ are going to attack me too?” Pitch asked, his voice full of venom, “Good to know which side you’re _really_ on.”

“What are you talking about?” Jack asked, lowering his staff. The wrong move, in Baby Tooth’s opinion. “I was just surprised, is all.” 

“You told me that the Guardians wouldn’t fight back!” Pitch snarled. The shadows in the room seemed to grow in his presence, and every word only made them larger. 

“I did not!” Jack argued, “I told you that they’d be our entertainment.” 

Baby Tooth would have groaned if she wasn’t so scared of drawing attention to herself. Couldn’t Jack see that this man was dangerous? Didn’t he have any sense? 

“Ah yes, _entertainment_.” Pitch growled, “Let me show you just how _entertaining_ I found them.”

Before either Jack or Baby Tooth really had time to process or react to Pitch’s words, the ever growing shadows made their move. They lept from the walls, twining themselves around the frost sprite and dragging him down until he was on his knees. He looked up at Pitch with fear in his eyes for the first time since they had been living in this cave, and Pitch seemed to revel in it. 

“You know, I can sense your fear, Jack.” Pitch said in a stage whisper, circling the boy. “You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?” 

“No.” Jack said, defiant as ever. 

“Oh, don’t lie to me, Frost. That will only make things worse.” Pitch tutted. “You want to know what it is that you fear the most?” 

Jack’s eyes flicked to Baby Tooth for less than a second. He looked back at Pitch and shook his head. Pitch laughed. 

“You’re afraid that I’ll decide you’re not worth the trouble.” The boogeyman said, stopping his pacing in front of his captive. “You’re afraid that I’ll just cast you out and you’ll have no one to turn to. The Guardians won’t want you, the children don’t believe, and the Man in the Moon has never answered you in all your life.”

“Pitch…” Jack began, his voice more desperate than before, all it’s defiance gone. The man wasn’t listening. 

“Even your stupid little fairy will abandon you, without my cage keeping her.” Pitch continued, reaching up and rattling her cage, “You’ll be all alone again, forever this time. You’ll slowly fade from existence.” 

“That won’t happen.” Jack denied, his voice unsure and unconvincing. Pitch laughed again. 

“It won’t, if you follow my rules.” The man assured him, “Now tell me, Jack, are you afraid? Don’t lie this time.” 

“Yes.” Jack admitted. 

“Of me?” Pitch prompted. 

“No.” Jack said. His voice shook and Pitch frowned. 

“Why not?” He demanded. Jack wasn’t lying, Baby Tooth thought, or Pitch would have said so. 

“You won’t hurt me.” Jack said, “I trust you.” 

Pitch laughed and Baby Tooth’s heart sank. She wasn’t ready for whatever was in store. She covered her face with the handkerchief, huddling against the sounds of skin hitting frozen skin. Jack gunted in pain with every blow and there was a strange crackling noise that Baby Tooth couldn’t quite put her finger on. 

Baby Tooth had never known Pitch to get physically violent without his fearlings and she’d never expected this from him. She bit her tongue to keep from crying out, to try to stop him. There was nothing she could do in this cage. 

Eventually it stopped. The fairy looked up just in time to see Pitch stalking out of the room, slamming the door behind him. She scurried out from under her blanket and held onto the cold bars of her cage, looking down at Jack. 

The boy was barely moving. Pitch had left him on the ground, slumped from where he’d been held down. Baby Tooth couldn’t see his face from her position. She called out, asking if he was alright, before clapping her hands over her mouth. She hadn’t spoken in front of anyone for more than two months. He stirred a little, and she made a decision. To heck with her convictions, Jack needed help now. She could be mad later. He looked up at her and she gasped when she saw thin, spiderweb cracks down his cheek.

…

Jack looked up at Baby Tooth, only to watch her gasp and take a step back from the bars of her cage. He reached up to touch his face and mentally cursed when he felt the cracks in his skin. As he sat up he felt the blood (or magic, or whatever it was that ran through his veins) pooling under his skin by his ribs and stomach, feeling unnaturally hot versus his normal freezing temperatures. It would be blue in an hour, he was sure. Deep blue bruises. 

He gently prodded his ribs to be sure none of his other skin was cracked (it wasn’t) and grabbed his staff to float up to be at eye level with Baby Tooth. She spoke again, but he couldn’t understand her well. He had never really had much interaction with any of the fairies before rather recently, but he got the gist of it. She was asking if he was alright. He smiled (carefully, so he wouldn’t hurt his face anymore). 

“I’m fine.” He said, before lifting a hand to touch his cheek, smoothing over it until a thin sheet of ice covered the cracks, “It’ll heal. Are you alright?” 

Baby Tooth said something, but Jack really couldn’t understand her this time. Maybe if she was still speaking to him tomorrow she could give him lessons on her language or something. That is, if they were even there the next day. 

Jack had been telling the truth when he said he wasn’t afraid of Pitch, he hadn’t thought he was a cruel man. Misguided and prone to lashing out? Sure. But not evil. This, though. This felt unforgivable. 

“What am I going to do, Baby Tooth?” Jack asked. “I can’t leave. He’s right, the Guardians will never accept me back.” 

Baby Tooth said something to the effect of, “They might,” but Jack wasn’t going to take her word for it. Baby Tooth really only knew Toothiana, who seemed to be the most forgiving of the bunch. North and Bunny would never forgive him, he was sure. He’d ruined Bunny’s holiday and North, well… the man kept a record of every good and bad deed of every child on Earth, it didn’t take a genius to know that the man could hold a grudge. 

Jack shook his head, “It’s too risky. I can’t… what if they don’t believe me, Baby Tooth? What if they don’t let me explain what happened?” 

Baby Tooth seemed to have no response, which was just as well because Jack probably wouldn’t have understood anyways. 

“Besides,” Jack continued when Baby Tooth seemed to have no intention of saying anything else, “I left them for a reason.”

Baby Tooth frowned at him, but didn’t comment. She told him to get back to healing himself, or at least that’s what he thought she said. Jack took her advice and started icing over his ribs, immobilizing them so they could heal faster. 

Jack never knew much about how their immortal bodies worked, but after observing humans for a while he thought they worked much the same, though the immortals were obviously less fragile. He would slow down and get weak without food, though he didn’t need it often or very much of it. His body would heal over time. Though he knew that if he didn’t set it right, he would heal badly. He never seemed to scar, but if he cut himself deeply enough he would have to deal with the mark for maybe a few years, but it would fade over time. He knew he should ask someone to explain it to him eventually, but it’s not like he’d had a lot of contact with anyone at all. Maybe Pitch would know.

Pitch… Jack hadn’t been afraid before, but he was now. He hadn’t thought the man was capable of such cruelty. It was stupid of him, he wouldn’t make that mistake again. But what could he do? He had nowhere else to turn. 

An hour passed. Baby Tooth quietly comforted Jack, trying to persuade him to leave. He was just on the brink of agreeing, when the door opened again. Pitch entered the room. Jack flinched back, afraid Pitch was there to do something worse, afraid he’d missed his chance to leave. Something in the man’s face seemed to soften at that, and he approached carefully.

“Jack,” He said cautiously, “It’s alright.”

“What do you mean, ‘it’s alright’?” Jack asked, unable to help himself, “This isn’t ‘alright’.”

“I know.” Pitch said, standing still before him, hanging his head. “I’m so, _so_ sorry, Jack. I didn’t mean to get carried away like that.” 

Jack relaxed a bit from his defensive stance. He glanced over at his staff, which was halfway across the room. He would have felt so much more comfortable with it in his hands, but he didn’t want to make Pitch think he was going to fight. That was the last thing he wanted right now. 

“Why did you do it, then?” Jack asked, looking back at the man. 

“I…” Pitch seemed to think about his words this time, “I haven’t been with anyone companionably for centuries, Jack. I don’t know how to control myself. Surely _you_ know how that feels.” 

Jack frowned. He did understand Pitch, he’d flown all the way to Antarctica to make sure the blizzard he was creating with his unstable emotions hadn’t hurt anyone. How could he judge Pitch on not being able to control himself? 

“Yeah, I do.” Jack admitted. He was going to add something, but his train of thought was cut off by Pitch’s warm arms wrapping around him, a kiss pressed to his forehead. 

“I knew you’d understand.” Pitch said, his voice grateful, “I’ll try to control myself. I promise.” 

“Thank you.” Jack said. This was why he stayed, the Guardians could never admit they were wrong, never apologized. This proved he’d made the right choice. He should have realized Pitch would be messed up after so much time alone, he couldn’t just leave him after one slip up, that wouldn’t be fair. 

Pitch kissed Jack’s cheeks, shaking him out of his thoughts. He closed his eyes, reveling in the feeling of someone else’s affection. Pitch kissed the place where he’d iced over the crack on his skin and Jack winced, the pressure causing pain. Pitch frowned. 

“Am I hurting you?” Pitch asked. There was a tone to his voice, one that Jack couldn’t figure out. Was it annoyance or regret? He’d play it on the safe side. 

“No,” Jack said, lacing his fingers through Pitch’s. “I’m fine.” 

Pitch smiled and caressed Jack’s cheek with his free hand. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Get some rest.”

Jack nodded and the man swept out of the room. The frost sprite steeled himself before looking up at Baby Tooth’s cage. He’d expected her to be mad, but she just looked concerned. She said something, but Jack didn’t understand even a little bit of it. 

“Sorry, Baby Tooth.” He said quietly, “I can’t just _leave_. Not when we both finally have someone.”

The fairy said something along the lines of “get better”, which Jack took as his cue to sleep. He slid into his bed, eventually finding a spot that didn’t quite make his ribs feel like they were on fire. He looked at Baby Tooth’s cage. She was still looking at him, the concern written all over her face. Jack frowned, before hiding under his blanket. He didn’t need her pity. He drifted into a fitful, but dreamless, sleep.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack had gotten used to the way things were, and he was dedicated to helping Pitch get better, he certainly couldn't get any worse, right? Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm going to change the update day to saturday since that's clearly what my brain wants me to do anyways.

Pitch’s temper never seemed to lessen over time, despite Jack’s attempts to calm him. There were frequent outbursts where Pitch would beat Jack until his face and body were cracked like a porcelain doll, thin spiderweb cracks that would heal in a matter of months, but were annoying nonetheless. 

Jack saw the pain of these ever more frequent altercations as a price for all the good times. Pitch was steadily gaining believers across the world, while maintaining the Guardian’s limit. With these believers, and the power they supplied, Pitch’s emotions were at an all time high, and Jack was more than willing to take credit for it. After all, Pitch swore that all of this was thanks to Jack, right? 

The pain also paid for Pitch’s apologies afterwards. Jack had found that the Boogeyman was always ready to make up for what he did, and he said the nicest things in the aftermath of his destruction. By the time July rolled around, Pitch was telling Jack he loved him, kissing him softly on his frozen lips, skin only briefly meeting in a gentle, silent, apology. 

Up until the kiss, Pitch had been getting steadily more and more violent, but after that and Pitch’s confession of love, things died down. There was one blissfully peaceful month.

Things escalated from there. Pitch got worse, but their relationship moved forward at a quick, steady pace despite that. By the time October rolled around, their relationship had been getting heated, but the brief lull in the Guardian’s activity, brought on by the lack of holidays in the summer, was drawing to a close as Christmas drew ever near. In preparation, the Guardians had been acting up and ruining Pitch’s favorite time of year. 

It didn’t matter though, he’d been suppressing his anger with Jack’s help and the frost sprite hoped that it would continue this way, that maybe Pitch would start healing now, in the face of adversity. For the entire month of October, Jack walked on eggshells around the enraged Pitch, who took out all his anger on the fearlings and threw himself into preparation for Halloween. 

“After Halloween Pitch will be happy.” Jack assured Baby Tooth. Over the months she’d been teaching him how to understand her, but it was a slow process. “It’ll be so great that he’ll just forget he was ever mad.” 

Baby Tooth tried to warn him he was wrong, but he didn’t listen.

The day before Halloween, the Guardians struck. They dealt a blow to Pitch’s fearling supply, he would not be able to have quite the reign of terror he’d hoped to have. Pitch was infuriated. He burst into Jack’s room as night fell, dimming the room with his mere presence, looming over the boy. 

“You’ll never guess what your precious Guardians did.” Pitch said, his voice a deadly calm as black, sandy tendrils reached up from the floor to wrap around Jack’s wrists. He just let it happen, it wasn’t like this was the first time. He swallowed hard. 

“Wished you a happy Halloween?” Jack joked. It earned him a hard slap across the face, but nowhere near hard enough to crack his skin. He was grateful, his face had only just healed from last time. 

“I’m going to need more nightmares, Jack.” Pitch said, walking towards him. As the man walked forward, Jack was dragged back by the sand, until the backs of his knees hit the bed and he fell over backwards onto the frozen mattress. 

“What-?” Jack asked, looking up at Pitch with wide eyes. This was new and his heart raced with fear, he did not like wherever this was going. 

“I’m going to need more fear.” Pitch continued, “Lucky for me I have a willing supplier.”

The man climbed onto the bed after him and Jack had the absurd observation that no one could be graceful when climbing onto a bed, not even Pitch. The tainted dreamsand untied Jack’s pants, almost without him knowing, and he struggled against it for the first time in months. 

“Now, Jack.” Pitch all but purred, “You know you’re not supposed to fight back.” 

Jack was too afraid to talk. He’d been born in a different time, he’d never even thought of this as a possibility. Jack had adapted well over the centuries, but still. This was something that happened to human girls, not all-powerful immortal _boys_.

“No.” Jack said, finding his voice when he saw Pitch working at this own clothes. He tried to reach for his powers, but his staff was too far away and he didn’t know how to do any magic without it. “Stop, Pitch.” 

“Oh, you want me to stop?” Pitch asked with a sneer, “That’s too bad, you owe me one hundred fearlings, Jack, and this isn’t going to stop until I get them.”

Jack honestly had no idea what Pitch was talking about. He tried to protest more, but Pitch didn’t care and soon the man was violating him with no warning, no preparation. It was the worst pain Jack had felt in his life, but he was grateful for it, in a way. It gave him something all-consuming to focus on, rather than Pitch’s talking, or grunting, or the utter, soul crushing betrayal he felt. 

Eventually it ended. Pitch got off of Jack without a word, leaving the room and taking the darkness with him. Jack moved only to pull the sheet up around himself, as if it would help. A thousand layers of clothes would not make him feel better.

Baby Tooth asked if he was alright, but Jack couldn’t find the will to respond. He felt like an idiot. Memories of the time he’d awoken from the lake flooded back to him, how those people would have reacted to such a thing. Jack supposed that if he could remember his life, it would be from that time and these feelings of shame would be worse. For the first time, he was glad that Baby Tooth refused to let him see his memories. 

Jack felt his eyes start to tear up, a drop falling down his cheek. He took a shuddery breath and tried to calm down. If he started to cry he’d never stop.

Another tear slipped down his face and Baby Tooth called out to him again, begging him to say something. Jack couldn’t stand to upset the fairy, so he put on his best smile, wiped his eyes, and removed the sheet from over his head. He got up, though it hurt badly, and pulled up his pants. He looked down briefly to see that some of his blue blood (or magic, whatever it was that was running through his body) was staining the sheets. He hastily reached for his staff- which was only an arm’s length away from his bed- and froze the areas to make them immobile, though it was very uncomfortable. 

Jack moved towards the cage and took it down, sitting back on his bed with it next to him. He didn’t want to stand to talk to her now, he wasn’t even really sure that he was capable of it. 

Baby Tooth chirped to ask if he was alright again. He lifted the smile, which had briefly fallen from his face, back into place. 

“I’m fine.” He said, “It wasn’t even as bad as normal, was it? Just different.” 

Baby Tooth made a doubtful noise, but he wasn’t paying much attention. He was reflecting on what Pitch had said, about Jack owing him fear. 

“What do you think he meant? That I owed him fear?” Jack asked, looking down from the fairy. He couldn’t stand her eyes, it hurt to meet them. “Do you think he’s using me?” 

Baby Tooth let out an exasperated “Yes.” Jack frowned. 

“But he’s been so good to me, when he’s not mad. You can’t just fake that kind of emotion.” 

Baby Tooth chirped out a long talk about how yes, Pitch could fake it and yes, he’d been using Jack this whole time, and why doesn’t Jack leave right now and go to the Guardians? Jack listened to her whole speech, but sighed at the end. 

“I need to find out what he’s talking about with the fear.” Jack said, “Then, maybe if this has just been a trick this whole time… maybe I can go.” 

Baby Tooth chirped out some encouragement, and Jack put her cage back on her hook. He was a bit afraid that Pitch would take her if she was in his line of sight. He burrowed himself back into the blankets, hoping for a dreamless sleep, when he realized something. 

“Baby Tooth, have you seen me having any dreams?” Jack asked. Baby Tooth shook her head. Jack had thought it might be a product of living so close to Pitch, or a gift from the man himself, sleep without nightmares, but maybe he was wrong. 

“Have you had any dreams?” He asked the fairy, “Or nightmares?” 

Again, Baby Tooth shook her head. Jack knew that Pitch held no love for her, so the gift option was out. Had Pitch been feeding off his fear this entire time? He contemplated this. Was he just a free, close source of fear? Was everything Pitch did a calculated move to make him so afraid he jumped at his own shadow, so afraid that he didn’t leave the cave because he worried the Guardians would see his cracked face and think that his alliance was cracking as well? Jack had been terrified these last few months, was that what Pitch wanted?

The door opened slowly, carefully, as it did every time Pitch came back after he hurt Jack. Jack, who was facing away from the door, didn’t sit up this time, didn’t even acknowledge the man’s presence. He’d been distracting himself and Baby Tooth with the talk of Pitch’s offhand comment about fear, but with Pitch’s return all the shame and violation and pain seemed to flood back into his mind. Jack clenched the sheet in his fists, determined to keep it on himself at all costs. 

“Jack…” Pitch said softly. Jack flinched a little, cursing himself for even moving. “Jack I’m sorry.” 

“If you were sorry, you’d stop doing this.” Jack replied, his heart pounding even as he spoke. He wanted to be brave, to talk back to Pitch, to show Baby Tooth that he wasn’t actually afraid of the man, that he wasn’t just a tormentor, but a friend and someone Jack cared for deeply. He wanted Pitch to realize he was a real person, not just a dummy he could take out all his rage and frustrations on.

“I’m _trying_ it’s just so hard, after _centuries_.” Pitch said, his same excuses as always, “It will take more than a few mere months to fix me, Jack. But I’m _trying_. These things take _time_.”

“Do you hate me?” Jack asked, sick of hearing Pitch’s same speech for what felt like the hundredth time. “Are you using me for something? Why are you doing this?” 

Pitch walked around the bed so that he could see Jack’s face. He put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and Jack was too afraid, despite his angry words, to move away. 

“No, no, Jack! I don’t hate you! Would I have done what I did tonight out of hatred?” Pitch asked, sitting gingerly on the bed. Jack looked down at the sheets, at the man’s leg, anywhere but Pitch’s face. 

“I don’t know.” He mumbled. 

“No, I wouldn’t! I was angry, but I was trying to show you that I _love_ you.” Pitch insisted. His hand migrated from Jack’s shoulder to caress the frost sprite’s face and he looked up, finally meeting Pitch’s eyes. 

“I love you too.” Jack said softly. He was still hurt and upset, but he’d put plenty of things like this behind him. Plenty. And this would just be another thing for him and Pitch to overcome, but they could do that if they just loved each other, right? Love conquers all… right? 

…

The next day when Pitch visited Jack in his room he offered the boy a gift. He’d let him choose one town, one whole town, in the world that wouldn’t be plagued with nightmares and fear that night. Jack had a suspicion that it was because Pitch was short a fearling or two, but he wasn’t about to vocalize it. His choice was easy. 

That night, as Jack flew invisible over the children laughing in Burgess, happy to be out on the dark streets without a parent or a _Guardian_ in sight, he knew he’d made the right choice. It was a cold fall, he’d made sure of it, and when a breeze hit Jamie in the face, Jack almost thought the kid looked at him. Almost. And that flutter of hope from even _almost_ being seen fueled him through the whole night, assured him he was doing the right thing. Soon kids would _really_ see him, thanks to Pitch. 

Still, Jack was as disappointed (if not more) when the kids were called back inside and they were all sent home.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Jack had learned by now, though. He loved Pitch, deeply and from the bottom of his heart. If he wanted Pitch to get better, he’d have to prove that he was there for him, right? He had to prove he’d never leave Pitch, then Pitch would stop punishing him so, for something he hadn’t even done yet._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the late update! I promise the next one will be sooner than three months. Probably next week or something (but don't get your hopes up, it's finals week). Just hang in there guys, there will be way more updates around the holidays.

After Pitch’s assault on Jack, they both walked around each other on eggshells. Jack stopped seeking out as much comfort from the man, afraid he’d anger him in some way, and Pitch stopped dropping by Jack’s room so often. They still shared soft embraces, but not in that room. They still kissed, but not in that room. 

Jack had honestly grown to fear and love his room. He’d never really had a place to call home, but it was the only place in the whole house (lair?) where Pitch hurt him. However, now it was the only place where Pitch allowed him peace. 

Baby Tooth was still talking to him, which was an accomplishment, but he refused to talk to her about Pitch. She would only disapprove, and her arguments made so much sense to him when they were alone. He knew he loved Pitch, every time he saw the man he knew. He had to keep reminding himself of that. He couldn’t leave him, _love_ was one of those things the Guardians were always going on about, so even they knew it was right. What he was doing had to be right.

If only there was some way he could convey to Baby Tooth that Pitch was broken, that he needed Jack’s help to be a kinder person. All of Pitch’s fear was just to show kids how to be safe, and he knew that Pitch really was just a prankster like him at heart. After all, all the best practical jokes had a touch of fear, that’s what made them exciting. 

They were meant to be together, Jack just knew it. They were to balance each other out. Jack would keep Pitch from being so mean and Pitch would keep Jack a little down to earth. He was already teaching Jack about consequences. It just hadn’t worked the other way around quite yet. 

It would probably take years, Jack told himself, but they would work through all their issues. You can’t fix someone overnight. These things take time. 

…

One day in late November, right around the time the Americans were celebrating Thanksgiving, Jack gathered the nerve to talk to Pitch about an issue that had been bothering him for some time. He had decided to ask Pitch in the kitchen, a place he knew to be safe. Pitch had never once harmed him in that room. It was an innocent question anyways, he doubted Pitch would really care. 

Still, as he mentally prepared himself to ask his stomach turned. Maybe he could back out, he wasn’t obligated to ask, after all. He was only sating his own curiosity. Pitch seemed to sense his nerves, his _fear_ and asked him about his behavior. 

“Is there something on your mind, Jack?” Pitch asked, his eyes piercing him across the table. Jack fidgeted. 

“It’s nothing. Just a question.” He said, looking down at his food, which had frozen over in his worry. He’d left his staff in his room, though it pained him. He wanted to appear nonthreatening. 

“What’s your question?” Pitch asked. His voice was unreadable, so Jack met his eyes. They were unhelpful, just as unreadable as his voice had been.

“What happened to Sandy?” Jack blurted before he could stop himself. Pitch’s eyes grew cold at the name, Jack tried to correct himself. “I mean the Sandman.” 

“You need not concern yourself over the whereabouts of your precious _Sandy_.” Pitch said, “But you will not ever utter his name in my presence again.” 

“I… I’m sorry.” Jack said, his eyes wide, “I didn’t know…” 

“You didn’t think that I’d be upset by the name of my greatest enemy?” Pitch asked, laughing darkly, “No, you wouldn’t think. You’re still attached to those _Guardians_.”

“No.” Jack lied, “You’re the only one I care about. Just you.” 

“And that wretched tooth creature.” Pitch added. 

“Yes.” Jack agreed, “But no more than you. You always come first to me.” 

There was a horrific moment of silence where Jack feared for Baby Tooth’s safety, where he thought he might have said the wrong thing. The moment passed. 

“Excellent.” Pitch said, and rose from his seat, “Goodnight, Jack. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

The man pressed a kiss to Jack’s lips before he breezed out of the room, leaving him to a table he had unintentionally frozen over. 

…

Things returned to their normal way after that, and Jack was the only one walking around on eggshells. Pitch had taken to forcibly having sex with him after successes and roughing him up after humiliations. Jack wasn’t sure which he hated more. 

He tried to justify it to Baby Tooth. “He doesn’t know he’s hurting me, he’s so happy when he does it, he’s just trying to show me that he loves me,” But her opinion on the matter wouldn’t budge. 

The Guardians seemed to be gaining more belief, North in particular. With Christmas fast approaching it was hard for children to stick to their fear. Jack (though he normally avoided the globe room at all costs) had seen the lights all over the world and they filled him with terror. He knew, he _knew_ that this was his fault. He was the one who had asked that the Guardians be allowed to continue existing after all. 

…

Christmas morning arrived with a surprise. Jack wasn’t sure how the man had done it, but there was a present waiting for him at the foot of his bed. He leapt at it, ripping off the paper in his barely concealed excitement. 

It was a lump of coal. Jack grinned widely, he _did_ hold the record for being on the naughty list after all. He started laughing, almost hysterically, waking up Baby Tooth. 

“Sorry,” He said, trying to conceal his grin, “Merry Christmas.” 

Baby Tooth chirped cheerfully back at him. Jack wasn’t sure how North had gotten this to his room without waking him or taking Baby Tooth or something. Though, he suspected that his gift had been given to one of the Yetis and not personally delivered by the man himself.

The lights flickered, Jack’s warning whenever Pitch was about to arrive. Jack hastily stowed the coal under his bed and waited, all joy drained from the room at the mere hint of the Boogeyman. 

“Jack.” Pitch hissed, throwing the door open, “It’s Christmas.” 

“Happy holidays.” Jack offered. Pitch gave him a mockery of a smile that would have been funny in a different situation. Jack counted it as half a success.

“I walked into the globe room.” Pitch said, adding the the growing pit in Jack’s stomach, “You’ll never guess what I saw.” 

“All of the children stopped believing overnight?” Jack asked, a little hopeful. Not that he wanted the Guardians to die, but he’d rather have that than whatever was surely coming his way. 

“No,” Pitch growled, “The opposite, in fact.”

Jack swallowed, but said nothing. His muscles were tense, bracing for impact. 

“I’ll need your help today.” Pitch said, turning slightly away.

“What?” Jack asked, looking at the man’s face. As usual, it gave away nothing.

“I need you to make the world as cold and dark as you can, to clean up after the Guardians.” Pitch said, already sweeping from the room, “I’ll expect you to be ready in three minutes.” 

“Y-yeah.” Jack agreed, watching the man close the door. He turned wide eyes to Baby Tooth, who was staring at him just as hard. “It’s a Christmas miracle.”

Baby Tooth chirped something sarcastic under her breath, but Jack couldn’t read anything but her tone. He scooped up his staff and the lump of coal, before putting the coal into Baby Tooth’s cage.

“I’m going to find something to help burn this when I get back.” He said, “Then you’ll be warm for once.” 

…

The day went as well as Jack could have expected. Pitch sent him back home long before he himself returned, probably because of Jack’s tendency to create excitement when he was bored. That meant he and Baby Tooth had a little time to themselves before the man and his fearlings returned. 

“I’m gonna take you out of the cage, but I’m locking my door, alright?” Jack asked, before freezing the hinges of said door. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just… I don’t want you to be tempted to leave, is all.”

Baby Tooth nodded. She wouldn’t have left, but she knew that he couldn’t trust her right now. She honestly didn’t know what she would do if he actually set her free. 

Jack set up a little makeshift fire pit on the stone ground of their room, piling little twigs and placing the lump of coal on top. He lit a couple matches and threw them at the twigs, as though he was too afraid to hold the matchstick too long. Eventually the fire got going and Baby Tooth sat as close as she could, revelling in the warmth. 

“It’s been a pretty terrible Christmas for you, hasn’t it?” Jack asked. Baby Tooth nodded a little. Jack sighed, “Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” 

Baby Tooth chirped that it must have been bad for him too, but he shook his head with a bitter smile on his lips. 

“No, actually… I think this might be the best Christmas I’ve had so far.” He admitted. 

Baby Tooth chirped doubtfully and he looked into the fire for a moment before he spoke. 

“I don’t know what your Christmases were like, but I was generally alone. Kids generally didn’t play outside much on Christmas wherever I went, they stayed with their families or just played with them and… I didn’t want to intrude on that. So I’d keep to myself. Sometimes I’d listen to the carols or pull a few fun pranks, in the early years, but now… now Christmas just feels sad.” Jack told her. He grinned a little and looked up to meet the fairy’s eyes. 

“You know the best part was always getting something from North.” He said, “When I was first created, he would give me little switches made from tree bark. Now I get coal. But he’d always find me, it made me remember that someone out there believed in me, if only barely.”

Baby Tooth asked about Pitch, wouldn’t he put a damper on Jack’s holiday? But Jack just shook his head. 

“No, between you and Pitch… it felt like I had a family this year. Even North’s present… It feels like an inside joke, doesn’t it? And it’s a real gift to you, keeping you warm.” Jack sighed, edging away from the heat of the fire a bit, “I wish it could be like this every day.”

…

“What do you mean, you’re worried?” North asked Phil, the yeti who had been tasked with delivering Jack’s present (along with the handful of others to kids in the area). “What do you have to be worried about?” 

Phil growled out something along the lines of there being a tooth fairy in a cage and Jack muttering unsettling things in his sleep. North frowned and stroked his beard. He wanted to ask about the tooth fairy, but that could wait. His belly was telling him there was a child in danger. 

“What kinds of things was he muttering?” 

…

Pitch’s anger slowly burned its way into a great rage at the children’s refusal to stop believing after Christmas. Every night he went out to smother their belief and every day he came home to Jack, in various stages of frustration. 

Pitch began to work himself into a paranoia. He was fixated on the thought that Jack would leave, though Jack never said nor gave indication of doing so. He would yell at Jack for wanting to leave, before starting in on his now daily punching bag routine. And the frost sprite would sit there and take it. 

Jack had learned by now, though. He loved Pitch, deeply and from the bottom of his heart. If he wanted Pitch to get better, he’d have to prove that he was there for him, right? He had to prove he’d never leave Pitch, then Pitch would stop punishing him so, for something he hadn’t even done yet. 

Besides, it didn’t take a genius to figure out how to calm Pitch. Though Jack hadn’t really been into the whole sex thing, something he attributed to his outdated sensibilities, he knew Pitch loved it. Why would he be doing it so much if he didn’t love it? And Jack was determined to show Pitch that he loved him too, allowing the man into his bed almost every night, even after his mistreatment every day. 

“He’s just rough because he’s not used to this.” He assured Baby Tooth, who tried to talk to him every time, “He doesn’t know he’s hurting me. And I’m from a different time! I never really got used to the idea of loving other men. We just need time, we’ll get this right.” 

He started to let her out of her cage more, since Christmas. He’d frantically made her pinky promise to not leave, a stark reminder of just how young he really was. Baby Tooth couldn’t leave him, she would feel too guilty. So things continued on the way they had. 

… 

It all came to a head two weeks before Valentine’s day. The Guardians, desperate to hold onto their remaining power from Christmas, were fighting him directly. Pitch called for Jack, sent out fearlings to their home for aid in the fight, but no one came. 

“Where is Jack, Pitch?” North asked, clumsily swinging a sword, but with more vigor than previous times they’d met. He really was gaining power back. 

“Jack isn’t your concern anymore.” Pitch hissed, “He’s not one of you, he rejected you!” 

“I’ll bet Jack left.” Bunny, who had grown back to his usual size with the surge of belief, commented, “He always was a coward.” 

Privately, Pitch agreed with Bunny’s assessment, but for different reasons. Jack’s cowardice was precisely why he stayed. 

“Don’t joke.” Toothiana bit out at her friends, “We haven’t seen him since he told us… what he’d done. If he doesn’t want to be found, he doesn’t want to be found.” 

“You’ve been looking for Jack?” Pitch asked, laughing. The Bunny turned on him, furious, but it only made him laugh more, “What could you possibly want with Jack?” 

“Yeti said he did not seem alright when he dropped off his Christmas present.” North said. That was curious, Pitch would have thought Jack would tell him about _any_ correspondence with the Guardians. He would have to talk to the boy.

“Is he alright?” Tooth asked. Pitch could see concern written on North’s face and taste the fear coming from the Bunny. This was delightful, he never thought they’d care for him, especially after he’d betrayed them. Yet here they were, telling their greatest enemy about their fear for Jack! He grinned wickedly. 

“Maybe I’ll just have to have him tell you himself.” Pitch said, disappearing into the shadow and speeding his way back home. He might not have won that fight, since Jack had obviously ignored his calls for help, but he would still win the war.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Why are you aligning yourself with that disgusting boogeyman?” North asked._
> 
> _“Don’t insult him.” Jack said, more out of fear that he’d know than offense on his behalf, “You don’t know him.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, look at the fast update, I'm actually writing. This is weird. Also it's 1am where I am and my contacts are falling out. I'm going to sleep.

Jack hadn’t been at home to answer Pitch’s call for help, instead he’d been off with the Wind, who he’d been neglecting. They’d been together all afternoon, alone, just like old times.

When he got home, Jack noticed Baby Tooth cowering under her handkerchief. He rushed to her side, clutching his staff in case of attack. 

“Baby Tooth, what’s wrong?” He asked. 

She chirped that the fearlings had been there looking for him, and now they’d gone and she was afraid. Jack frowned, since he still didn’t understand her as well as he would have liked. 

“Afraid of what?” He asked. 

“Afraid of me, I believe.” Pitch said, materializing from the shadows. Jack whirled around, putting himself between the man and the little tooth fairy. The man sneered at the gesture, “Not even a hello?”

“Hello, Pitch.” Jack replied, trying to make his voice soft and nonthreatening. It might have worked, because Pitch started to pace around, rather than stare at him.

“You didn’t answer my calls, Jack.” The man said, not looking at him. Jack flinched. Pitch had never called before, but it would figure that he would the one day Jack was out. 

“I didn’t hear them.” Jack defended, “Otherwise I would have.”

“‘Otherwise’ doesn’t cut it, Jack. You’ve let me down.” 

Jack looked at his feet, internally filled with rage and fear. Fear won out. “I’m sorry.” 

“You will be sorry.” Pitch said, drawing closer. Jack hardly had time to brace himself before it began.

…

Jack looked up at Pitch through one eye as the man backed away. He was on the floor, bleeding magic-or-blood all on the frozen ground. His left arm was bent at a weird angle and he knew there was a crack down the right side of his face, obscuring his eye. He tried to sit up with great effort and got halfway there, leaning on the bed for support and panting. 

“Oh, and Jack?” Pitch asked, his voice sweet. Jack flinched violently. 

“Yes?” 

“Next time the Guardians decide to stir up trouble I’ll be sending you out in my place. They’re beginning to be a nuisance. I do have other things to do besides fight in their petty squabbles.”

“But…” Jack started, flinching again when Pitch turned to look at him. “I can’t hurt them! That wasn’t part of our agreement.” 

“Well, you agreed to help me when I needed assistance, correct?” Pitch asked, “This is me needing assistance.”

“Pitch…” Jack began as the man stalked towards him. He didn’t get the rest of his sentence out, as the man was pulling him up by his hair. 

“This isn’t a request, Frost.” Pitch hissed, before letting him go suddenly. Jack tumbled back to the ground, hitting his bent arm against the bed painfully. He cried out and Pitch left the room.

A moment passed in silence, only broken by Jack’s ragged breaths as he tried to get himself together. He couldn’t be like this in front of Baby Tooth, he had to be strong. 

After what seemed like forever, Jack got to his feet. He stumbled and almost fell, but he eventually got up, crossing the few feet that separated himself from his staff. He grabbed it and sat on his bed, patching himself up like usual. He’d frozen everything except his arm and he stared at the useless appendage for a long moment, wondering how exactly he was going to do this. 

Jack steeled himself and got up, leaving his bedroom. His heart was beating almost out of his chest, for fear that Pitch would find him sneaking away after all of that. He got to a room with a window and closed the door, sealing it shut with ice, for good measure. He threw open the windows and the wind rushed in, swirling around him in what he always assumed was a hug.

The wind tugged gently at the sleeve of his broken arm and Jack winced. He rolled up the coat to show the sickening lump of bone, just beneath the surface of his skin. He was grateful it hadn’t gotten any worse, he’d never know how to fix it. 

“Wind, I’m going to need your help.” He said, “I need you to straighten my arm.” 

The Wind seemed to hesitate, so Jack thrust it out towards the open sky, closing his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look. The Wind took the hint and snapped the bone back into place. Jack screamed, but The Wind stole the sound from his lips and sent it away so Pitch couldn’t hear. 

Jack was trembling in pain, but he froze a thick layer of ice around his arm to keep it still before sinking against The Wind. She supported him, ruffling his hair as she did so, and rocking him gently. After a moment, he stood up on his own. 

“Thanks.” He said, trying to put all his gratitude into that syllable. “I’ll see you.”

He closed the window and wandered back to talk to Baby Tooth.

…

The Guardians were sitting at the North Pole, strategizing around the globe. The fight with Pitch hadn’t gone as badly as they thought it would, but it certainly could have gone better. 

“We must find where they’re hiding.” North said, “They could be anywhere.” 

“Nah, we have to prepare for the next attack!” Bunny protested, stomping his foot in irritation. “He’ll be ready for us next time. We should enlist the yetis.” 

They both looked at Tooth, who was about to speak and settle the debate, when the windows burst open. Freezing air rushed in all around them, flooding the room with snow. The Guardians only had a second to get their bearings when a loud, gut-wrenching scream erupted all around them. 

The scream stopped and the wind slowed, until there seemed to be only one force of wind, swirling around, as if pacing. They tracked its movements through the snow that now lay on the floor of the room. 

“Are you The Wind?” Tooth asked. She’d never really interacted with it outside of Jack. Come to think of it, the scream had sounded familiar. “Was that Jack?” 

The Wind pressed against her, feeling warm for once, and she had no idea what that meant, but she supposed it was a yes. 

“What happened to him?” Bunny asked, but The Wind seemed satisfied in having made her point, and flew from the room, leaving the snow and stillness in her wake. 

“We must find Jack.” Tooth said, “Maybe then we’ll find a way to defeat Pitch.” 

…

Baby Tooth practically begged Jack to leave, but he refused. Pitch still needed his help, and besides, what would Pitch do if he _did_ leave? The thought haunted him, bringing memories of the Sandman’s last moment. He could almost see himself, in those memories. 

The next two weeks passed slowly, Jack scared to be in the same room as Pitch. This marked the first time that the man hadn’t apologized for hurting Jack, and he was worried that that meant there were more times like that to come. 

Jack scarcely left anymore, not that he’d left all that often before the incident. The crack on his face had yet to heal, still obscuring his eye and spider-webbing its way down his jaw. He frowned every time he saw it reflected back at him, but Pitch seemed to like it. 

On Valentine's Day, the Guardians struck once more. They’d taken to hijacking other supernatural creatures’ holidays, and while most of them seemed olay with that, Jack couldn’t imagine Cupid was pleased. 

Jack heard about the Guardians causing trouble from The Wind, who seemed pleased. Granted, he couldn’t tell much of what he was trying to tell him, but she’d taken to making little pictures like Sandy used to. He’d thanked her and run back to his room, trying to hide from the boogeyman. It didn’t work. 

“Jack.” Pitch said, opening the door, “Your Guardians are causing trouble.” 

Jack hated how he called them “his Guardians”. It made it sound like they cared for him, which they most certainly did not. He reluctantly got up and grabbed his staff. He was about to leave, when Pitch grabbed his arm. 

“Don’t mess this up, my love.” He said in a dangerous voice. “Love” sounded like a threat from his lips. Jack nodded and Pitch grinned, pressing a soft kiss to the crack in Jack’s cheek and making him wince. “Hurry back.” 

“I will.” Jack said, and left quickly. 

The Wind took him straight to the Guardians, feeling excited to be of use once more. He couldn’t help but laugh as she threw him up and caught him, playing games the whole way to their destination. He was at Burgess soon, and he should have guessed that the Guardians would choose there to cause trouble. They were delivering Valentines, as if they were presents or money or eggs, all signed by the remaining Guardians. 

Jack didn’t want to hurt them, so he thought up a plan as he floated, unnoticed, above them. 

“Wind, I’m going to need your help getting them to the lake.” He said. He didn’t want any real people getting hurt by them, and he didn’t want any kids to be freaked out by seeing Santa Claus fighting the air. 

He landed in the middle of the lake and waited, drawing up his hood so that the Guardians couldn’t see his face. No need for them to be questioning his and Pitch’s alliance. He froze the thawing lake, thinking of Bunny and North. He didn’t want them to fall in, after all. 

There was a loud noise, the sound of whipping wind and three people protesting, as the Guardians were pushed onto the lake. Jack jumped up into the Wind, letting her hold him up so he could move more easily. 

“Jack?” Tooth asked, directing the Guardians’ attention to him, “What are you doing here?” 

“You guys have to stop.” Jack said, trying to keep a tremor of desperation out of his voice. “I’m here to make sure you don’t get any more believers today.” 

“Where’s Pitch?” Bunny asked, his voice borderline mocking.

“He’s cleaning up the damage you’ve already done.” Jack returned, holding his staff in a more offensive position as the Guardians seemed to gear up for a fight, “I don’t want to hurt you guys.” 

“Then don’t.” Tooth said, “Why are you doing this, Jack?” 

“Why are you aligning yourself with that disgusting boogeyman?” North asked. 

“Don’t insult him.” Jack said, more out of fear that he’d know than offense on his behalf, “You don’t know him.”

“You’ve only known him for a few months!” Bunny protested, throwing a boomerang because he thought Jack was off-guard. Jack was not, and deflected the thing, “We’ve been fighting him for years! How can you know him?” 

And with that, the fight really began. Though it was three against one, Jack was the clearly superior one. The Guardians had lost so many believers, they weren’t really functioning at capacity. Every time Bunny threw his boomerangs, they seemed to miss. Every time North swung his swords, he seemed to have trouble lifting them. And every time Tooth tried to zoom by to him him with her wings, she seemed to falter a little, like her wings were on the verge of giving out.

North was the easiest to take out. Jack froze his feet to the pond and encapsulated him in a special brand of ice. Bunny was next, as his attacks got more harried once North was own. Then it was just Tooth and Jack.

Jack shot out at her, expecting to hit his mark and be done with it. Tooth ducked though, faster than he’d seen her move before, and scooped up one of Bunny’s discarded boomerangs, hurling it at Jack. He was so surprised that he didn’t have enough time to move, and it hit him square in the chest. Jack went sprawling across the ice, his staff skidding just out of his reach. 

Tooth landed in front of him, and Jack realized that his hood was down. He tried to look at her feet, hoping his face was obscured from her. His hopes were dashed as she gently put a hand on his non-cracked cheek, tilting his head up to look at her. He flinched at the contact. 

Tooth looked sad, which he hadn’t expected. “Oh Jack,” She breathed, “Who did this to you?” 

Jack didn’t respond, but he had a feeling that she took that as an answer in itself. She didn’t let go of his face.

“Where’s Baby Tooth?” She asked, after a moment. Jack supposed he should answer, since Baby Tooth was hers after all. 

“She’s safe, with me.” Jack said. Tooth gave him a look like she didn’t believe what he was saying, and for some reason he had an overwhelming urge to make her know that Baby Tooth was alright, that she was the best off living being in the cave. “I don’t let Pitch hurt her.” 

Tooth’s frown deepened. “Do you let him hurt you?” 

She let go of his face and he seized his opportunity to grab his staff rather than respond. He moved quickly, and Toothiana was frozen just like the rest of them. Jack pulled up his hood once more and stood in front of them. 

“The ice should melt in a few hours, you’ll be fine until then.” He told them, “ _Please_ stop causing trouble, alright? I hate fighting you.” 

And with that, he called upon The Wind (who seemed reluctant to leave) and abandoned them. 

…

Jack arrived home to an overjoyed Pitch. The man wraps him in his arms and kisses him all over, leading them slowly to Jack’s room through the confused tangle of hands and mouths. 

“Did I do alright?” Jack asked, when they got to his room. He hated being there with Pitch, and it was odd to see him so happy here. 

“You did perfectly.” Pitch told him, leaning down and capturing his lips in a long, slow kiss, “This calls for a celebration.” 

“A celebration?” Jack asked, getting an absurd vision of fearlings with party hats and streamers. 

“It’s still Valentine’s Day, you know.” Pitch told him, his voice low in Jack’s ear, “It’s a day for lovers.” 

“Lovers.” Jack repeated while Pitch kissed down his neck. They tripped onto the bed and Pitch went to work, showing Jack exactly what he meant. It was the first time Jack had enjoyed their intimacy. If that was how Pitch felt every time he took Jack to bed, it was no wonder he did it so often. He must have been right about it being an acquired taste though, if this was the first time it was pleasurable. It’s not like Pitch would have been intentionally hurting him all that time, right? 

When they’d both finished, Pitch lay next to Jack, tracing patterns on his chest. “I’m proud of you, for today.” 

“You are?” Jack asked, looking his lover in the eyes. No one had ever said that to him before. Pitch hummed an affirmation. 

“You did well.” He said, yawning. He stretched and got up. “I’d better get to bed. 

“Oh.” Jack said. He’d hoped Pitch would sleep by him, but he supposed it was stupid. He was too cold to sleep by. 

“Goodnight, Jack. Happy Valentine’s Day.” 

“Goodnight, Pitch.” Jack replied, and Pitch swept from the room, leaving a hollow emptiness. Jack looked to Baby Tooth, who was turned away, faking sleep to give them privacy. He supposed he should feel more awkward about having an audience, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Pitch had left a depression in his wake, and Jack turned, hugging his blanket around himself and hoping he’d feel happy again in the morning.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“But we had a deal!” Jack protested._
> 
> _“You’ll forgive me.” Pitch said, sure of himself._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the late update, but at least it's a longer chapter, right? Since I'm back in the swing of writing there will probably be another chapter soon.

“I don’t like this.” North said. The Guardians were warming themselves by a great fire in one of the North Pole’s rooms, trying to get rid of the chill left from being encased in ice. Bunny shot North a look, but he was shivering too much to offer up whatever sarcastic comment was surely going through his head. 

“I don’t either.” Tooth agreed. “We have to help Jack.”

Bunny harrumphed, but he was ignored.

“What is going on with him?” North muttered, frowning. “Why does he not just leave the boogeyman?”

“Maybe Pitch is keeping Baby Tooth hostage.” Tooth said, unhappy to consider that one of her fairies was in danger. “Maybe he’s got Jack’s memories.”

“Or maybe he’s just an idiot.” Bunny bit out through chattering teeth, rubbing his arms. North looked at him sternly, but the pooka was facing away from him, toward the fire. 

“Jack is many, many things, but he’s not stupid.” Tooth said. Bunny didn’t look over. 

“There’s got to be a reason that he’d subject himself to that man. He wouldn’t stay for nothing.” North reasoned. 

“Maybe he feels bad for _betraying us_. You remember he did that, right? Jack’s no saint.” Bunny argued, glaring over at them. 

“No, he’s not. But we can’t just leave him there, Bunny. He’s all alone, he needs help.” Tooth said, putting her hand over Bunny’s freezing paw. He jerked it away. 

“He’s used to being alone, he can take care of himself.” Bunny said bitterly. 

“I fear that we’ve believed that far too long.” North said, “Maybe none of this would have happened if we would have tried to reach out to him sooner.”

Bunny sighed. He knew he was more angry at his slow weakening and the the cold than at Jack. He stomped at the floor, calling one of his tunnels. He would think better at the Warren. 

…

Depression still lingered in Jack’s stomach when Pitch let himself into his room the next day. He seemed to still be riding high on waves of victory from the previous day, as he immediately straddled Jack, who had still been in bed, and started kissing him.

“Pitch.” Jack said, quiet desperation lacing his voice. He didn’t want to do this now, he didn’t have any energy. He needed a minute before just rushing into this, he needed _time_. “Pitch, wait.”

“Why?” Pitch asked, between pressing kisses to the frost sprite’s neck. “You were so, mmm, eager yesterday.”

Color rushed up to Jack’s face, and his eyes flickered to Baby Tooth’s cage. She was hiding under her blanket. He didn’t blame her. 

“Pitch, stop. Just wait a second.” Jack begged, while the man ran his hands up his shirt, “No.”

“No?” Pitch asked, leaning back enough for Jack to see his face, “You little tease.”

“I’m not-” Jack tried to protest, but Pitch’s lips were already on his. Jack realized, while Pitch ravaged his lips, that this wasn’t about being “lovers” or whatever Pitch told him yesterday. He still had no choice in the matter, it was about keeping the man happy. Or else. 

“Have you changed your mind?” Pitch asked, breaking the kiss. “You want this.” 

“I want this.” Jack echoed, his voice ringing untrue, even to his own ears. 

“Good.” Pitch said, untying Jack’s pants. 

…

They both finished and Pitch cleaned them up, before sweeping from the room, as if he was never there. Jack sank down against the pillows, willing sleep to come to him. 

‘I guess I did want it, after all.’ He thought, reflecting on what had just transpired. ‘Otherwise I wouldn’t have enjoyed it.’

Baby Tooth chirped, reminding him of her existence. He slowly got up, walking to see her in her cage. She asked if he was alright. 

“Of course I’m alright.” Jack said, “Why wouldn’t I be?” 

He didn’t know if she could hear his voice shaking, but she didn’t acknowledge it if she did. 

…

Easter was going to be late that year, towards the end of April. Children all over the globe were believing in anticipation, though. It fueled Pitch’s rage and Valentine’s day was forgotten as he and Jack fell back to their usual patterns.

He sent Jack to keep the world cold, and the boy was doing a great job of it, but even that wasn’t enough to stop the kids from hoping. Pitch had to personally spread fear to the world, and this constant power struggle, this year long battle, was getting on his nerves. But nothing got to him quite like the Tooth Fairy, with her bright colors and annoying voice. 

He ran into her, about two weeks before Easter. She was trying to coax little rabbits out of their hiding places for some fool plan or another, but the creatures scattered when Pitch approached. 

“Pitch.” She gasped, gathering herself into a defensive stance. He laughed, she could never take him on alone. If not for his promise to Jack, she’d be done. 

“Toothiana.” He greeted. He was ready for her to cower in fear or run, but she did neither. 

“What have you done to Jack?” She asked. She sounded outraged, which was not the emotion he would have thought she’d have. He’d expected defeat or fear. Curious. 

“I’ve converted him to my side.” Pitch explained easily, “It wasn’t hard to make him see things my way.” 

“I’d imagine it’s hard for him to see at all, what with that giant _crack_ on his face.” The fairy snapped back. Pitch frowned, but covered the emotion quickly. 

“He did need a little… breaking in, so to speak. But he’s the perfect accomplice.” The man said. The Tooth Fairy scoffed. 

“We’ll get him back.” She promised, “Just you wait. He’ll leave you in a second, if he had the chance.” 

“I’d be careful if I were you,” Pitch warned, “I made a promise to him, and it’s the only thing keeping me from harming you right now. I wouldn’t want you to have an unfortunate accident.”

Toothiana cleverly kept her mouth shut. Pitch left her there, teleporting home. He had some business to take care of. 

…

Jack had just arrived home from his daily excursion to freeze over the world. It was a losing battle at this point though, at least for the northern hemisphere. He couldn’t make it winter forever. 

He’d just sat on his bed after talking to Baby Tooth (her day was uneventful) and he was about to sleep (something that was becoming his new favorite habit), when the lights flickered. Jack barely had time to flinch, before the door slammed open and Pitch stormed towards him. 

“A little _fairy_ told me that you were thinking of leaving, _Jack_.” He hissed, pushing the frost sprite down on the bed. 

“Baby Tooth was probably joking.” Jack said, shooting her a look. “I’d never leave you, Pitch. I love you.” 

“ _Love_.” Pitch scoffed, “I wasn’t talking about your precious _Baby Tooth_ , I was talking about that wretched Guardian.”

“Tooth? I haven’t seen her in almost a month.” Jack said, trying to arrange his body so that the still-tender parts from Pitch’s last assault were protected. 

“You’re conspiring with the enemy, Jack, and I won’t have it.” Pitch hissed. “You’ll stay here, out of trouble.” 

“What?” Jack asked, while Pitch scooped up his staff. His heart felt like lead in his chest as the man swept from the room, the door’s lock (previously unused) sliding shut with a sickening clunk. 

There was a moment of silence. Baby Tooth chirped something, but Jack didn’t catch it. He looked over to her though, wrapping his arms around himself as if it would help ease the empty anxiety building in his chest. 

“Well, at least he didn’t do anything, right?” Jack asked, swallowing hard. He felt the room temperature drop a degree. “This is fine.” 

Baby Tooth told him that he was locked in the room, just in case he hadn’t caught it. He smiled a little at her, trying to ease her worry. 

“I mean, you’ve been locked here for almost a year now, so it can’t be that bad, right? It’ll be fine. Pitch is just mad. He’ll… he’ll come back and let his anger out, and then we’ll be fine.”

Baby Tooth chirped doubtfully. Privately Jack agreed, but he couldn’t let her know that. He had to be strong for her, or he wasn’t sure he’d be able to control himself. He didn’t want to freeze her, so he’d have to keep it together. He could keep it together until Pitch was back. 

…

Pitch didn’t come back for two days. In that time, Jack’s anxiety had risen so that he was sure he was going to have a heart attack at any moment, despite how impossible that might have been. His chest ached for his staff, for the wind, for escape. 

In an effort to protect Baby Tooth from the dropping temperatures, he’d ripped up his blanket and stuffed her cage with it, before icing the whole thing over like an igloo. With his staff gone, he couldn’t do much, but ice always came easily to his touch.

Baby Tooth’s voice was muffled now, but they could still speak. She told him she was alright in there, that it was probably even a little warmer than she’d been all year (barring Christmas). She also had started in again on her campaign to convince him to leave. It was a work in progress. 

A few hours into what Jack thought was the third day of isolation (he wasn’t quite sure, as he had no way of knowing what the time or day was) Pitch came back. Jack’s momentary elation was squashed, however, when Pitch showed that his real purpose wasn’t to let him go, or even to talk. It was just to use him. 

“You’re even weaker than usual.” Pitch sneered, as he pushed Jack down onto the bed. Pitch was right, of course. Jack felt weak, without his staff. If this is how the Guardians felt, he couldn’t possibly blame them for trying to fight Pitch. 

“Pitch.” Jack began, but Pitch placed his hand over the boy’s mouth. 

“You talk far too much. I don’t want to hear a single word out of you, or this will get much, _much_ worse.” 

Jack nodded, and laid back without a fight while Pitch violated his body. He supposed, internally, that he should think himself lucky. It wasn’t any of Pitch’s usual, frustrated violence. Pitch would leave and he’d come back later and let Jack go. He was sure. 

… 

When Pitch had finished, he left. He didn’t return for another two days. 

“I think he’s trying to use my fear to make more fearlings.” Jack told Baby Tooth, who chirped out something that sounded suspiciously like ‘duh’. “But I can’t stop being afraid. Even if I could, he’d just make it worse.”

Baby Tooth chirped her agreement and frustration with what he said. Jack sat down from his pacing and tried to calm down. He’d seen mortals have panic attacks before, and he felt like this is what one might feel like at the beginning. He wouldn’t succumb to it though, he was no mortal. 

Baby Tooth advised him to take deep breaths. He didn’t have enough air in his lungs to tell her that he was trying. 

…

When Pitch came back the next time, it was more of the same. He had Jack and left, without a kind word or even an insult. Jack braced himself for another two days of solitude. 

Pitch liked to be unpredictable though, and when Jack woke up next, it was to the man throwing him from the bed to the ground. 

“Your little _Guardians_ inquired after you today.” He said, with a tone that made the whole thing seem a lot more casual than Jack knew it was. “They think I’ve been mistreating you.” 

“I don’t know how they could possibly think that.” Jack said, before he could stop himself. He felt the blood-or-magic drain from his face as Pitch turned his cold glare upon him. 

“I thought I told you not to talk.” The man said dangerously. Jack didn’t know whether he was supposed to reply to that. Pitch saved him the awkwardness by backhanding him across the face. “You need to be taught a lesson.” 

Jack wanted to disagree, but he was afraid of what would happen if he spoke again. Pitch proceeded to drive blow after blow into his frozen skin, before sweeping from the room, as if he was never there in the first place. 

Baby Tooth asked if he was alright. Jack didn’t have the heart to lie to her. 

…

The next night, Jack had a panic attack. The lights had flickered, the way they do to signal Pitch’s approach, and Jack had spent an hour on edge in anticipation. Baby Tooth tried to calm him down. Though she hadn’t seen the flicker through her now iced over cage, she tried to tell him that it was a trick of the light. That’s what finally set him off. 

“Just a trick?” He asked, losing his frantic hold on breathing, “Do you really think he’s doing this on purpose?” 

Baby Tooth didn’t respond. It didn’t matter, Jack was too busy fighting his own lungs to pay attention. His breaths came in short, erratic gasps and his vision swam. He sunk to the floor while his heart beat furiously. 

Baby Tooth tried to tell him to calm down. That didn’t help. After an hour of this (longer than a human would have gone, which was a point of pride to Jack) he passed out. He woke up to Baby Tooth’s frantic chirping.

“Hey.” He said, walking over and turning her cage. There was one little spot that normally faced the wall, which he hadn’t frozen over. She reached through the bars and touched her face, her little hand hot on his cheek. “I’m alright.” 

She chirped that she thought he was dead. Jack frowned and sighed. 

“I wouldn’t do that to you.” He told her, “I wouldn’t leave you alone here. Not without letting you go first.” 

Baby Tooth stilled at that. He’d put thought into this, into his death here. She hadn’t thought he’d considered it much since their conversation on it months ago. She tried to tell him not to talk like that, but he shook his head. 

“First chance I get, I’m letting you go.” He told her, “I’ll have The Wind carry you home if you can’t fly. It was stupid of me to endanger you here for so long.”

She asked him if that meant he was staying here. He shrugged. 

“I’m not sure.” He said, and he turned the cage to face the wall once more, “Goodnight, Baby Tooth.”

…

Pitch kept his appearances erratic for the next week. Jack had more panic attacks, he was paranoid and frantic. The air in his room whirled around with freezing rain, his anxiety messing with what he had of his powers. Finally, it was too much. 

“Can I have my staff?” He blurted one day. It had been an alright meeting with Pitch. He’d just wanted sex. The man had been leaving when Jack spoke. He turned, angry surprise in his eyes. “I’d just… I’d feel better with it.” 

“You want to defend yourself from me.” Pitch said, accusing, “You want to defeat me and take all my hard work!” 

“That’s not true!” Jack protested, “I just… I need my staff, Pitch.” He tried to think of a way to explain the anxiety that lived in his chest, like a monster roaring to be fed. “I just need it.” 

“You need it?” Pitch asked. “Well, that’s too bad. I can’t give it to you.”

“Just… can I hold it? For a little bit?” Jack asked, not letting this go. Pitch’s glare sharpened and he reached into the shadows, producing the staff from their depths. 

“You want it so badly?” He asked, holding it up. “Fine.” 

Jack reached for it, but instead of throwing it at the frost sprite, like Jack thought he would, Pitch brought the staff down across his knee, snapping it cleanly in half. 

Jack let out a noise as if he’d been punched. He fell to the ground, holding his chest. Pitch threw half of the staff at him, but took the other half when he went. The door closed. 

Baby Tooth tried to talk to him, but nothing registered past the pain. He held the half of his staff close to himself, as if he was trying to force it into his own chest. He faintly noticed that the temperature around them had dropped even further. It was deadly still in the room. 

Jack couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, could hardly breathe for the pain. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and wished that this would all be over, one way or another. 

…

After what felt like an eternity, Jack summoned all the magic he could and opened Baby Tooth’s cage, from where he lay. She clumsily fluttered out, cloaked in a strip of blanket, and flew to him. 

“I’m gonna try to open the door.” He told her in a quiet whisper. “Then you can be free.” 

Baby Tooth didn’t know how to respond to that, so she just shook her head and flew to Jack’s bed. He’d hidden his canister of teeth, along with the wrapping paper from his Christmas present, under the bed so that Pitch wouldn’t take them. She dug out the teeth and dragged the heavy thing over to them. 

“What?” He asked, looking at it. “Why do you have this?” 

She chirped that she was going to show him his memories. She sat in his view and put her palm on the box. It glowed and called his name, stronger than it had in months, 

_“Jack! Jack?”_

…

When Jack resurfaced from his memories, he tried to get up, but failed. 

“Did you see that?” He asked. 

Baby Tooth shook her head. 

“I’m a Guardian!” He said, with a slight laugh. He seemed to come back to himself after that, “Not that… it does anything for us now.” 

The room had seemed to warm a little though, versus the absolute cold Baby Tooth had felt when Pitch left, so she counted it as a win, if a small one. Jack still didn’t seem to have the energy to move, but it gave him hope. And as soon as Pitch let them out, Baby Tooth was sure they’d be free.

…

Pitch came back two days later. There was ice creeping under the door and he was going to accuse Jack of some plot, but the words died on his lips when he saw that the boy was lying in nearly the exact spot Pitch had left him.

“Jack?” He asked. He loomed over the boy, before kneeling down next to him. “Jack?” 

“Pitch?” Jack groaned. Whatever joy Baby Tooth’s revelation had given him had passed, and the time without his staff had taken its toll. He felt like he was slowly dying. “It hurts, Pitch.” 

He was trying to appeal to whatever part of Pitch held love for him, if that wasn’t all just a lie. Pitch’s face seemed to soften as he looked at the boy in some kind of horror.

“Jack… oh Jack!” He produced the other half of Jack’s staff out of the shadows and gave it to him. “I’m so sorry!” 

Jack sat up with great effort and tried to put the two pieces together. He failed. 

“Try again.” Pitch encouraged. 

Jack complied, and the staff was engulfed in light, repairing itself. Jack sagged in relief. 

“Thank you.” Jack said, with feeling. “I thought I was going to die, like… like…” 

“Like what, Jack?” Pitch asked, his voice almost gentle. Jack looked at the ground and shook his head, unwilling to go through any more pain today. “Tell me.”

“Like the Sandman.” Jack whispered, and flinched. Pitch frowned. He supposed he should tell him the truth, at least to ease his mind for today. After all, he had plenty of fearlings. He wouldn’t need Jack’s fear for much longer. 

“Sanderson isn’t dead.” Pitch said, helping Jack up to sit on his bed. “I don’t think immortals _can_ die.”

“He’s not? Then where is he?” Jack asked. 

“He’s made of the same stuff that I corrupted to make my nightmares.” Pitch explained, “It’s all part of him. The sand that holds his consciousness is just distributed through my nightmare sand.”

“Could he ever come back?” Jack asked. Pitch’s mouth tightened and the boy was afraid he’d gone too far, but Pitch answered.

“He could. Children with belief could bring him back. That’s why I despise them, they could bring down my whole plot with just the touch of a finger. That’s why I’ve decided to make our deal void, Jack.”

“What are you talking about?” Jack asked. 

“While you’ve been here, I’ve been going out and dispelling all the remaining belief. The Guardians will still live, in their weakness, but we won’t have to worry about believers ruining all of our _fun_.” Pitch explained. 

“But we had a deal!” Jack protested. 

“You’ll forgive me.” Pitch said, sure of himself. “I’m going to let you leave your room. Don’t make me regret that.”

He kissed Jack’s cheek and left. Jack frowned, holding his staff close to him, and waited for Pitch’s footsteps to grow faint. 

“Alright.” He said to Baby Tooth, “Let’s get you out of here.”


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“I do believe in you.” Jamie said, “I’m just not afraid of you.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit look, it's up super fast. Also sorry that this is mostly just a rehash of part of the movie, I didn't want it to be too different from cannon to add some element of fate/inevitability to the whole thing, so I hope you forgive me. Everything after the beginning of next chapter will be 100% original content, I swear.

Jack cradled Baby Tooth in his hands and hurried over to the room with the window. He froze the door behind him and looked down at the fairy in his hands. He had a decision to make, and he needed to make it fast. 

“Should I go with you?” He asked Baby Tooth. She nodded almost violently, her whole body vibrating in his palm. “Pitch’ll kill me when he finds out.” 

She chirped out an encouragement, but Jack looked over his shoulder at the frozen door. It seemed to loom larger than it had before, it looked as though Pitch could walk in at any moment and revoke his freedom again. He looked back down at the colorful fairy in his hands. There were dark rings around his wrists from where the nightmare sand had held him down again and again when Pitch hurt him. They were a tattoo of shackles, keeping him here. 

Baby Tooth chirped again, shaking him from his thoughts. She told him he needed to hurry, that Pitch was out there destroying all belief in the Guardians. They needed to act now. 

“Alright.” Jack said, opening the window, “You go, tell the Guardians… tell them I’ll be out there in a little while. I need to do something first.” 

The Wind swirled around Jack excitedly, ruffling his hair and trying to pick him up, before realizing that the little tooth fairy was its passenger today and lifting her from Jack’s hands. Baby Tooth looked hesitant to leave, but she didn’t have much choice. The Wind was flying her, she had no control over whether to stay or leave. 

Jack watched the fairy until she was just a pink blob in the distance. He sighed and unlocked the door, walking carefully out. He didn’t want to run into Pitch, though he knew the man was probably long gone. He jumped at every shadow until he got to the globe room. 

Pitch’s globe room was like a mockery of North’s. It was empty and huge, compared to the clutter and overload of information in the North Pole. Jack looked over his shoulder with every move he made, as the wind that came in through cracks in the ceiling felt like breath on his shoulders. 

He looked at the globe. There were only a few kids with belief left. He frowned. He could go to Russia, he was sure North would love that. There were a couple kids in China who still believed… or there was one lonely light right over Massachusetts. Burgess. 

Jack didn’t know if he believed in fate, but this seemed to be a sign. He ran out of the room as quickly as he dared and threw open the windows, ready to jump on The Wind and ride out. He hesitated. 

He loved Pitch. Despite everything, he loved him with his whole heart. Pitch was the only one who had shown him any kindness, even when he messed up. Sure, he’d punish him, but he’d never tell him to _leave_. 

But he had to do this. This was bigger than just him and Pitch, the happiness of the world depended on this. He couldn’t just let these kids live in fear, that wasn’t right. He couldn’t take their childhood from them, their hopes and dreams. Besides, he had to get Sandy back.

Jack jumped into The Wind, and she carried him to the only place he ever felt home. 

…

Jack landed on his lake and looked around, trying to get his bearings. He didn’t really know how long he’d been shut in his room, he didn’t know what day it was or even if Easter had passed yet or not. He flew over to the Bennett house and lighted next to the window. He looked inside, where Jamie was talking to a stuffed rabbit.

“Okay look,” Jamie was saying, “You and I are obviously at what they call a crossroads,”

Jack looked around the room. There were drawings everywhere. Pictures from Halloween, from when Jamie met the Guardians, from when he went on an out-of-control sled ride. Jack was there for all of them, though he wasn’t in any of the pictures. He liked to pretend that he was there though, in the spaces Jamie left blank. 

In the background, Jamie continued giving his stuffed rabbit an ultimatum. There was silence. Jack looked around, looking for whatever sign that Jamie was looking for. It never came. 

“You don’t have to do much. Just a little sign so I know. Anything.” He hugged the toy to his chest, “Anything at all.” 

Jack was frozen, he didn’t know what to do. This kid needed a sign and, as a Guardian, he should give him one. But he just didn’t know what. 

“I knew it.” Jamie whispered, dropping the rabbit. Jack knew time was running out. He touched the window, frosting it over. He drew an egg. It had to be close to Easter, right? He drew a little Easter egg. 

Jamie looked over and Jack grinned, glad he had the kid’s attention. He drew a rabbit. Jamie got out of bed, looking at the pictures in amazement. 

“He’s real.” 

Jack could almost pretend the kid was talking about him. He drew on his powers, trying for a cool trick. He pulled the rabbit free from the frozen glass, letting it bounce around the room a couple times before it exploded into snow. 

“Snow?” Jamie asked, looking up at it. A snowflake alighted on his nose. He seemed to realize something. “Jack Frost?” 

“Did he just…?” Jack asked himself. He knew he was a figure of speech, but maybe this kid really did know… 

“Jack Frost.” The kid said, standing on his bed. 

“He said it again! He said… you said…” 

Jamie turned and his eyes went wide, almost like he was looking at Jack. “Jack Frost.” 

“That’s right! But-but that’s me! Jack Frost, that’s my name. You said my name!” Jack couldn’t form complex sentences, he could barely think. He’d waited so long for someone to see him…

Jamie continued to stare, his jaw dropping.

“Wait, can you hear me?” Jack asked. 

A nod. 

“Can you… can you see me?” 

Another nod. 

“He sees me. He sees me!” Jack jumped up, doing a backflip through the air. It pulled on some not-quite-healed wounds, but he’d worry about that later. A kid finally saw him! Jack turned to tell Baby Tooth, his near constant companion, but then he remembered what was going on. 

Jamie was freaking out, so Jack freaked out with him a little bit, explaining that the Guardians were, in fact, real. Jack was in the middle of telling him how he’d been there for nearly all of Jamie’s drawings, when the kid’s mom called up, 

“Jamie, who are you talking to?” 

Jamie looked at Jack unsure, but the sprite shrugged at him with a smirk. It’s not like Jamie’s mom would believe whatever the kid said. 

“Jack Frost?” 

The mom laughed, “Okay.” 

Jamie and Jack dissolved into giggles. Jamie spoke, in a softer voice. 

“Why is your face cracked?” He asked.

“Oh this is nothing.” Jack said, trying for a grin, “You should see the other guy.” 

There was a loud crashing noise outside, saving Jack from the rest of that conversation. It was North and Tooth, in North’s sleigh. The reindeer ran off while North shouted after them. 

“We should go talk to them.” Jack said, “C’mon.”

…

Jack came out before Jamie, hopefully to have an “adult conversation” with the other Guardians before the kid showed up. 

“Jack! Baby Tooth told us you’d be here.” Tooth said, trying to flutter over to him and faltering. Jack caught her and she smiled at him. “It’s good to see you.” 

“Same to you.” Jack said, smiling again. 

“Tooth’s fairy told us that you knew how to take down Pitch.” North said, giving up on the reindeer. 

“I do.” Jack said, glancing back at the door. Jamie wasn’t out yet. He was probably grabbing shoes or a coat. Humans did have a tendency to freeze. “Where’s Bunny?” 

“Losing Easter twice… it took its toll.” North said, and a tiny fuzzy thing hopped out from under the sleigh. 

“Oh no…” Jack said quietly, trying to contain his glee. 

“Hey, why are you helping us, Frost?” Bunny asked, obviously trying to divert attention away from him. “You weren’t so eager before.” 

“Pitch is the bad guy.” Jack said with what he hoped was a casual shrug. 

“It didn’t seem to bother you…” Bunny began, but Jamie was rushing out of the house. 

“It’s you!” He cried, “You’re all real!” 

Jamie looked around at all of them, his gaze falling on Jack last, as though wondering where they were going, what the adventure was. This was not lost on the other Guardians. 

“He sees you!” North said, his voice full of joy. Jack didn’t expect that, he hadn’t expected anything more than a strained agreement to work together. This was strange. 

“Wait, is that the Easter Bunny?” Jamie asked, looking at Bunny. The pooka looked upset. “What happened to him? He used to be all huge and cool! Now he’s… cute.” 

The child scratched Bunny under the chin, which he seemed to enjoy for half a second before he pushed the hand away and skittered over to Jack. 

“Did you tell him to say that?” He asked. Jack wanted to say yes, because that was just too funny, “Come on, let’s go. You and me.” 

Jack was going to say that he couldn’t possibly fight him when he was only one foot tall, when Jamie intervened. 

“No! Actually he told me you were real. Just when I started to think that maybe you weren't.” Jamie explained. Bunny looked up at Jack, all his anger gone from his face for once. 

“He made you believe in me?” He asked. Just when it seemed like they were having a moment, thunder cracked in the distance. They looked up to see a mass of black clouds and nightmare sand, with Pitch in the middle. 

“Get Jamie out of here.” Jack said, before flying up. 

“Be careful, Jack!” North called, his voice almost lost in the wind. 

Jack flew up towards the cloud at a breakneck speed, hoping that Pitch wouldn’t notice him until too late, that he’d get a good surprise attack before Pitch had any chance to see him. His hopes were in vain, as Pitch turned the whole cloud on him. 

“Jack Frost,” The man roared, “Let’s end this, shall we?” 

Jack didn’t want to know what Pitch meant by that, so he let out a battle cry and shot at Pitch with bright white ice. Pitch merely deflected it and sent a wave of nightmare sand, hitting him out of the air. The Wind tried to catch him, but all she did was slow his fall. He came crashing face down in an alley, by the other Guardians and Jamie. 

“Jack!” Jamie cried, running towards him. Jack got up to his knees by the time Tooth and North got to him. 

“That was good try, Jack. A for effort.” North said encouragingly. 

“He’s stronger now.” Jack said, “I can’t beat him.” 

North and Tooth shared a look of concern over his head, but he couldn’t begin to figure out what it meant. A menacing laugh echoed through the alley and Jack shrunk a little as a reflex, before getting to his feet. 

“All this fuss over one little boy and still he refuses to stop believing.” Pitch said. Jack moved himself to block Jamie from the man’s view. “And you, Jack. I’m surprised at you. I let you leave and the first thing you do is run back to those _Guardians_? I should have known. It’s no matter. There are other ways to snuff out a light.” 

Jack tried to swallow down the dread that Pitch’s words caused while Bunny tried to defend the child. Pitch was taunting them, but Jack was just focused on breathing. He just had to do this, get through this night, and he’d be free of Pitch and of everyone. Free to be alone. 

“Jack,” Jamie said, gaining his attention. “I’m scared.” 

“I know, I know!” Jack said, seeing his sister in front of him instead of Jamie. “But you’re going to be alright. We’re going to have a little fun instead.” 

Jamie looked confused, but Jack grinned, an idea forming. 

“So what do you think, Jamie?” Pitch asked dramatically, “Do you believe in.. the boogey-” He was cut off by a snowball in his face. The fearlings looked surprised. Jamie and North let out shocked laughs. 

“Now let’s go get your friends.” Jack said, tossing a snowball in the air. 

…

They raced through the town, collecting all of Jamie’s friends. They had to be fast, to outrun Pitch. Jack’s fear of being caught was only outweighed by his elation that all these kids, _all of them_ could see him. He wasn’t invisible. This was all he ever wanted. 

He told the kids what he knew, that if they touched the sand it wouldn’t hurt them. It would turn gold, into good dreams. He told them that if they turned the sand back, they might be able to see one of their very good friends again. The kids agreed to try to help.

They were stopped still in the middle of the street by a tidal wave of darkness. Pitch sat atop his horse, looking down at them in disdain. 

“You think a few children can help you?” He asked, “Against this?” 

North tried to hold up his sword, but it seemed to heavy. He dropped it. 

“They’re just bad dreams, Jamie.” Tooth said, comfortingly. 

“We’ll protect you.” Jack promised. 

“You’ll protect them?” Pitch asked, “You, Jack? You can’t even protect yourself! Who will protect you?” 

Jack glared up at the man, at a loss for a witty retort. He was about to open his mouth, to say something, but Jamie stepped in front of him. 

“I will.” He said. He was joined in a chorus of “I will”s by his friends as they stepped up, one by one. 

“Still think there’s no such thing as the boogeyman?” Pitch asked, getting himself ready for the attack. His fearling reared up and charged. 

“I do believe in you.” Jamie said, “I’m just not afraid of you.” 

The sand came down, crashing at the children. Jamie got his hand up just in time, though he flinched, and the sand burst away, turning golden. Everyone looked around in wonder as tendrils of golden sand coursed through the air. It seemed to be weaving through buildings, no doubt bringing the other children of Burgess dreams of belief. 

Tooth gasped as her feathers perked up, and she floated up to see if she could help take down some of the fearlings. Color returned to North’s face and he jumped up, revitalized, to go help Tooth. 

Bunny wiggled, ready to become himself again, but fearlings chased him under a car. 

“I’m just a bunny,” He cried. If it were any other day, Jack would have been absolutely delighted at this whole thing, but he was actually marginally worried. He shouldn’t have been, since one of the fearlings pulled him out from under the car as a full sized pooka. Bunny was back in the fight. 

Jack watched for a moment as the Guardians, yetis, giant eggs, and children all fought the fearlings. He knew what he had to do. He flew up to the roof of the building where Pitch was standing and shot out at his fearing guard, weakening his defenses. 

Pitch charged at him, but he was too fast, weaving around. The man caught him off guard, however, when Jack saw the look on his face. It was the same look that preceded his most violent punishments. He was stuck still, while Pitch hurled a spear of nightmare sand at him. Luckily, Tooth was there to deflect it. That shook him out of his frozen state, and back into the fight. 

The Guardians had joined him, and even as Pitch tried to get away North destroyed his horse, sending him tumbling to the ground. The man tried to fight him with his spear, but he was no match. 

The kids were off doing something, Jack hoped they were alright but he didn’t have much attention to devote to them. The Guardians were helping him corner Pitch, they needed to capture him, to do something. 

“It’s over, Pitch.” Jack said, referring to both the fight and their relationship, “There’s no place to hide.” 

Pitch laughed and sank into the shadows. The Guardians looked around, trying to track his movements, but it was too dark and he was too fast. They didn’t see until it was almost too late. 

“Jack, look out!” Bunny yelled, throwing a boomerang at Pitch, who had materialized behind the frost sprite. The man deflected it. Jack backed up in fear, not even raising his weapon. He wasn’t used to defending himself anymore. Pitch brought down his scythe, grazing Jack’s side, before the thing was yanked out of his hands by a golden lasso. 

Jack tried not to focus on the pain, freezing over the wound. It wasn’t that bad, he’d deal with it later. He didn’t have time right now and besides, Sandy was back. 

The Guardians and the children cheered as they watched Sandy send Pitch into the sky with one blow. He made short work of the boogeyman and briefly greeted everyone, before sending out dreams to the world. 

Sandy had always been Jack’s favorite Guardian, the only one he’d ever really seen before this whole fiasco. He never really thought about how the Sandman must have been the most powerful, with his ability to create belief out of nothing. While the children of the world dreamed, the Guardians were stronger. 

Dreams roamed the streets, from little butterflies to giant dinosaurs. Everyone looked around in wonder. Jamie was just about to touch one of the fish, when Jack hit him with a snowball. He didn’t want the kid to fall asleep too fast, he didn’t want this to end. It started a snowball fight of epic proportions. 

“You figured out your center?” North asked. 

“It took a while, but I figured it out.” Jack said. He wasn’t just talking about his center, but he thought that North probably knew that. 

The fight went on, peals of laughter echoing, but then Pitch awoke. They watched as the man realized he was invisible to the children once more. The man took one look at them and ran, straight to Jack’s lake. 

They chased him there and got ahead, so that he ran straight into North. 

“Leaving the party so soon?” He asked when Pitch bounced off of him and hit the floor. 

“You didn’t even say goodbye.” Tooth added, flicking him a coin.

“A quarter?” Pich asked, catching it. Tooth punched him so hard one of his teeth went flying. 

“That’s for Baby Tooth.” She said, giving Jack a significant look. Jack nodded, Baby Tooth deserved a little revenge. 

Pitch tried to posture, showing them that he still had fearlings. Jack’s heart sped up, but he felt Baby Tooth alight on his shoulder and he knew he’d be alright. 

“What are they doing here?” Pitch asked, “If you’re not afraid.” 

“They’re not here for me, I’m not afraid.” North said. 

“It looks like it’s your fear they smell.” Jack said. 

Pitch looked mildly confused, until he realized that Jack was right. He tried to run, to get away from the thundering horses. One tried to get at Jack, but he froze it easily. Pitch couldn’t hurt him here, he had nothing to be afraid of. The man was dragged to one of his many tunnels and it closed up behind him. Jack was certain that all the others were closed too, that Pitch was going to be trapped, like he’d trapped Jack, for a very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you guys know, this fic is nowhere near over. I have a whole recovery part planned, so there will be much more to come


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“I will” Jack said, with all the conviction he could muster. He wasn’t sure about many things anymore, he wasn’t sure about Pitch or even if he really trusted the other Guardians, but he knew for certain that he would defend these children till his last breath._
> 
> _“Then congratulations, Jack Frost, for you are now and forevermore... a Guardian.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter begins the recovery arc! I'm excited about this, and I'm especially excited for the next chapter since this is more of a set-up chapter for events to come. 
> 
> Sorry for the slow update time, but I'm trying

The clouds cleared and Jack looked up to see the moon. He felt as though it was talking to him, but he couldn’t decipher what it was saying. Tooth broke his thoughts by launching at him, taking him into a tight hug and spinning. 

Jack winced. Pitch’s scythe had cut deeper than he thought and Tooth’s attention was not helping. She laughed and fluttered away a moment later though, so Jack supposed there was no harm done. He was getting a little dizzy though. He smiled after her, wondering when this was all going to end, when they’d all go their separate ways once more. 

Baby Tooth fluttered over and chirped, too fast for Jack to really understand. He laughed a little and brushed her cheek with his finger. They were free. The little fairy flew away, and Jack looked up to see all the Guardians gathered before him. 

“Are you ready now, Jack?” North asked. “To make it official.” 

Jack allowed a slow smile to overtake his face. He wasn’t sure that he’d be allowed to be a Guardian anymore, what with everything that had happened. He didn’t think they’d have wanted him. Sure, he helped in this one fight, but that didn’t make up for how much he’d hurt them during the past year. 

A yeti handed North a giant book, seemingly from nowhere. 

“Then is time you take oath.” North said, “Will you, Jack Frost...vow to watch over the children of the world?”

Jack glanced over at the kids while North spoke. They were watching in a rare silence, but they could see him, they could _see_ him.

“To guard them with your life: their hopes, their wishes, and their dreams? For they are all that we have, all that we are and all that we will ever be.” North continued. 

“I will” Jack said, with all the conviction he could muster. He wasn’t sure about many things anymore, he wasn’t sure about Pitch or even if he really trusted the other Guardians, but he knew for certain that he would defend these children till his last breath. 

“Then congratulations, Jack Frost, for you are now and forevermore... a Guardian.” North declared. The kids’ voice went up in a cheer and the elves started to play music. North picked up Jack and kissed both his cheeks. Jack was too dizzy to even think about that, much. He leaned heavily on his staff while the sleigh flew in.

Baby Tooth asked if he was alright, but he didn’t have time to answer. Sandy created some dreamsand fireworks, distracting the kids so they’d let the sand touch them and lure them to sleep. Jack was glad. He needed to go somewhere, needed to fix himself up.

“Time to go.” North told him, and he nodded. He watched Bunny talk to Sophie (it was pretty cute to see them interact, he had to admit), but Jamie got his attention. 

“You’re leaving?” He asked, looking worried, “But what if Pitch comes back? What if we stop believing again?” 

Jack didn’t even want to think about that, but Jamie was still talking. 

“If I can’t see you…” The boy looked down and it make Jack’s heart hurt. The kid looked so fragile. He knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey, hey, slow down, slow down. You telling me you stop believing in the moon when the sun comes up?” Jack asked.

“No.” Jamie said, like it was obvious. 

“Okay, well do you stop believing in the sun when clouds block it out?”

“No.” 

“We’ll always be there, Jamie.” Jack assured him, “And now, we’ll always be here. Which kind of makes you a Guardian too.” He pointed to Jamie’s heart and the kid brightened.

Jack was going to continue, but he was too dizzy. He needed to get to the sleigh before he collapsed. He was sure that wouldn’t leave a good first impression on the kids. He’d made it almost to the sleigh, when Jamie yelled “Jack!”. 

He turned and Jamie launched into his arms. Jack was shocked, for half a second. He thought Jamie was going to go through him, like everyone had for so long. But no, the kid felt solid in his arms, and he hugged him back. 

He jumped on the sleigh and took a seat. Bunny looked at him oddly, which he supposed was warranted. He didn’t usually sit in the sleigh. As they flew away he waved to the kids. 

“How are they going to get home?” Jack asked. 

“We took care of it.” North assured him.

Jack nodded. That was something he didn’t have to worry about. The Guardians continued to talk amongst themselves, mostly to Sandy, so Jack took their distraction as an opportunity to look at his wound. He lifted his shirt and looked down. 

It was deeper than he’d thought. He’d had worse, but it would take time to heal. He’d need rest. And probably a new shirt. He’d really like a new shirt. He was just about to ice it over again (all his movement had broken most of the ice he’d put over it before) when Bunny looked over. 

“Frostbite, what happened?” The pooka asked. Jack frowned at the nickname and dropped the fabric back over his wound. 

“Pitch must have got me.” He said, shooting for a casual tone and missing by a mile. “It’ll be fine.”

“Jack’s hurt?” Tooth asked, looking over, “Let me see.” 

Jack backed up as much as he could on his bench and covered it with his arm. “It’s fine Tooth, really.” 

“We can get you fixed up at the Pole.” Bunny said, “You’ll be right as rain.” 

“Are you sure you’ll be alright until then?” Tooth asked, her voice too concerned. 

“We could stop the sleigh.” North offered. 

Baby Tooth chirped at him worriedly and Sandy made some dreamsand symbols over his head, but the dizziness was getting worse. He couldn’t focus on their words. 

“Guys!” Jack said sharply. They stopped. “I’m fine. Just… drop me off wherever.” 

There was a moment of silence. 

“Drop you off wherever?” Tooth asked, “Jack, what?” 

“Pitch is gone.” Jack said, not noticing how they all seemed to have a reaction to the name, “We’re all going our separate ways, right? I’ll just… head back to Antarctica, I guess.” 

“Actually,” North said, looking to his friends to back him up, “We were going to keep in contact this time.”

“Yeah, this has had such an effect on all of us, we’re going to stay at the North Pole and recuperate together.” Tooth said, elbowing Bunny. 

“Yeah.” He agreed, “We thought it was important to… uh, make sure everyone was okay.” 

“Oh.” Jack said. “So we’re going to the North Pole.” 

“It would be a waste for you to fly all the way to the other side of the world to rest.” North told him, “Let us fix you up, at least.” 

Jack uncurled from himself a little, nodding stiffly. “Alright.” He agreed.

The other Guardians eventually returned to their conversations. Jack was too tired to try to join in, just looking behind them. He felt dread, like he did every time he had to go home to Pitch when he knew something had gone wrong. He’d only personally messed up a few times, but Pitch had never overlooked it. 

They arrived at the North Pole fairly quickly. As soon as the sleigh stopped, Bunny peeled himself from his seat and got down onto solid ground. The other Guardians followed suit, leaving Jack alone with only Baby Tooth for a moment. 

She asked if he was alright. He nodded. 

“I’m not sure I can get up.” He whispered to her. He was so dizzy, he could barely focus on her. She chirped worriedly and flew off. The Wind swirled around him. “Can you help me up?” He asked it. 

The Wind gently lifted him and guided him out of the sleigh. His feet hit the ground and he nearly collapsed, but the Wind kept him up. 

“Thanks.” He said softly, and it helped him to the door. They stopped outside it, the obnoxious bright red almost taunting. The Wind swirled worriedly around him. She wouldn’t be able to help him inside. “I’ll be fine.” He assured her. 

Jack staggered in, a little breeze from the Wind trying to help as best it could. He thought he was going pretty well, before he tripped over his own feet and fell to his hands and knees. 

“Jack!” Tooth said, rushing over. She tried to grab him, to help him up, but she touched him the same way Pitch always did when he was picking him up off the floor to throw on the bed. Jack couldn’t see Tooth, he could only see a tall, dark shadow. 

“No, stop!” He gasped. Tooth retracted her hands and Jack could see her colors again. She was frowning. He tried to apologize. “Sorry.” 

“No, it’s fine.” She said, “Phil is going to take you to the infirmary, if that’s alright? Sandy’s going to be there, resting.” 

“When isn’t he resting?” Bunny snorted. Jack hadn’t been aware he was in the room with them and flinched at his unexpected voice. Phil helped Jack to his feet and the frost sprite straightened, trying to not look weak in front of the two Guardians. 

Bunny and Tooth watched as he walked out of view. Baby Tooth made to follow, but Tooth stopped her. 

“What happened?” She asked quietly. 

Baby Tooth hesitated. She didn’t want to tell Jack’s secrets, but they were _hers_ too. She’d lived through it with him and it was _Toothiana_ asking. 

“You told us that Jack wanted us to help him take down Pitch, and we saw some of what Pitch did to him, but we don’t know what’s going on. We just want to help.” Tooth’s voice had an edge of pleading to it. Baby Tooth glanced pointedly at Bunny, who was still in the room.

“Aster…” Tooth began, but Bunny had already gotten the message. 

“Yeah, I’m going. I’ll check up on North and Jack.” He said. Tooth nodded gratefully. 

…

“Jack, you must take off your shirt.” North argued, “Yeti cannot examine you with your shirt on.” 

“North, I can take care of myself. I don’t need an examination.” Jack protested. Sandy tried to say something, but they both ignored him. 

“Phil had to carry you here.” North pointed out. Phil grunted unhelpfully from his corner. 

“I’ll be fine after I rest.” Jack said. 

“You need medical attention!” North argued. 

“Well, I haven’t had that for three hundred years and I’ve been just fine!” Jack yelled. He was sick of this, he just wanted to be alone, to sort through his feelings, to heal. 

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat. North and Jack looked over to Bunny, who was standing in the doorway. 

“Let him do it, North.” Bunny said. North frowned, but nodded. He ushered the Yetis (Phil and one whose name Jack didn’t know, but who was dressed in medical scrubs) from the room. 

Jack grabbed some gauze and sat down in a huff, stripping off his shirt. He’d entirely forgotten about his roommate until he caught a glimpse of gold out of the corner of his eye. He looked over to see Sandy staring at him with an unreadable expression. 

“Oh.” Jack said, unable to think of anything to say, “I didn’t hear you.” 

Sandy sent up a picture of someone laughing in the sand above his head, a visual “lol”. Jack nearly laughed, but he couldn’t really bring himself to. He looked down at his torso, at all the discolored spots, all the cracks. The rings of black around his wrists. 

He pressed the gauze to where the blood-or-magic was flowing out of his side. Sandy walked over and sent up another signal, one that looked like the crosses on hospitals. 

“You want to help? I guess.” Jack said. He hadn’t wanted to admit to North, but he did need help. He didn’t know how to fix himself, he barely knew more than the most basic first aid. Sandy gently dressed the wound and Jack applied a layer of ice over the bandage. 

Sandy shook his finger at Jack in a mock-disapproving way and showed a picture of a bed over his head. Jack did laugh that time, a little halfheartedly. 

“Yeah, I’ll rest. That was the plan.” He said. Sandman nodded approvingly and Jack pulled a starchy white shirt over his head. North had offered him a whole new set of pajamas, but he didn’t want to stay long. 

Jack crawled into one of the beds and sighed. He knew the other Guardians would want to talk to him, so it wouldn’t be any use trying to sleep just yet. Sandy made another sign over his head, a megaphone, followed by a question mark. 

“Do I want to talk?” Jack asked. Sandy nodded. “No, not right now, Sandman. Maybe later.” 

Sandy nodded again and they sat in companionable silence, waiting for the other Guardians to barge back in. 

…

“So what happened?” Tooth asked Baby Tooth, back in the sitting room. She’d taken a seat close to the fire and Baby Tooth was revelling in the heat after a year of freezing. 

Baby Tooth considered, and told her that she couldn’t say the whole story, that there were certain parts Jack wouldn’t want her to talk about. He was humiliated enough that she was there for it. 

“What can you tell me?” Tooth asked. 

Baby Tooth sighed and chirped out a censored version of what she saw, how Pitch would beat Jack, how Jack was sure they were partners in all of this. She left out their “relationship” and all that that pertained, she knew Jack wouldn’t want them to know. Not now, at least. Tooth looked appalled.

“He manipulated him!” She whispered, outraged, “He’s not going to trust anyone after this! I didn’t think Jack would let someone do that to him.” 

Baby Tooth chirped out a response about how Jack had been alone, that he didn’t want to lose the only person who seemed to care about him, and Tooth’s anger dissipated into pity.

“Oh, poor Jack.” She sighed, “We were too hard on him. This is all our fault.” 

Baby Tooth felt inclined to agree, at least on some level, but she didn’t say anything about that. Instead she told Tooth that she was sure they could fix Jack, with time. 

“Yes, with time.” Tooth agreed. “Am I allowed to tell the others what you’ve told me?” 

Baby Tooth considered, then nodded. They needed to be ready and informed if they were to help Jack.

“Alright. I hope Jack will open up so I don’t have to talk to them though.” Tooth sighed, before seeming to realize something, “Oh my gosh, you must think I’m terribly insensitive. How are you?”

Baby Tooth hesitated. She’d tried to not reveal much of what happened in her time with Jack, but it had been traumatizing to say the least. She chirped out that she thought she was fine, that she’d come to Tooth if she ever needed to talk, and the older fairy seemed happy with the answer.

“Alright.” Tooth said, setting Baby Tooth on her shoulder, “Let’s go talk to the others.”

…

A few minutes after Jack had sat down in the infirmary bed, the other Guardians came in, though not after knocking to announce their presence. 

“Ah good, you are resting.” North said, upon seeing the frost sprite in bed. Sandy got their attention, using more complex pictograms than he used when talking to Jack to tell them something. Jack quickly gave up trying to figure out what they were talking about when Tooth shot him a not-so-subtle look. He should have guessed they’d be talking about him. 

Baby Tooth fluttered from Toothiana’s shoulder to Jack’s, lightly landing so not to hurt him. 

“Did you tell them anything?” Jack asked quietly while Guardians were wrapped up in their conversation. 

Baby Tooth told him that she only told Tooth a little. That, Jack could work with. The little fairy continued, telling him she’d be there to listen if he wanted to talk. Jack nodded. 

“Are you alright?” He asked. It was almost customary, after so long in the cave. He always wanted to be sure Pitch hadn’t hurt her. 

She chirped out that she was fine. He nodded again. She asked if he was okay. 

“Just tired.” He told her. The Guardians returned their attention to him then, cutting off his and Baby Tooth’s conversation. 

“Jack,” Tooth began, “We just have a few questions.” 

“Alright.” Jack said. He didn’t want to answer questions, but he supposed he owed them for not letting him bleed out flying to Antarctica. 

“What happened with Pitch?” Bunny asked. Tooth shot him a look, like she’d told him not to ask, but he wasn’t paying attention. He was focused on Jack. 

“I thought we had a partnership.” Jack answered. “It turned out that he was just using me to fuel his fearlings. By the time I’d figured that out though, it was too late. He was stronger than me and he was holding our deal over my head.”

“We’re very sorry about all of that.” North told him seriously, “We never would have asked you to make such a sacrifice on our behalf.” 

“But what did he do to you?” Bunny asked. Tooth looked close to murderous. 

“You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to.” She told him. Jack nearly laughed, he didn’t want to answer any of this. He shook his head. 

“Pitch didn’t do anything I can’t handle.” He replied, looking down at the dark rings on his wrists. 

Tooth reached out to touch his shoulder, taking him by surprise. When he flinched she retracted her hand. He didn’t know how to fix this. He didn’t know how to get better. It would be alright though, he’d stay here for a while until he felt better and then he’d go off and do his job. He’d protect kids and have snow days, and then he wouldn’t have to interact with anyone who might know what he was going through.

The Guardians seemed at a loss for what to say in response to Jack. They assured him that they’d be there for him to talk to, before departing once more. Jack and Baby Tooth were left alone with Sandy, the only other resident of the room. Baby Tooth curled up on the pillow to sleep, but it eluded Jack.

The Sandman was still awake, looking out the window at the snowy landscape. Jack cleared his throat, gaining the man’s attention. 

“Sandy, can I have some dreamsand?” He asked, “I think that if I go to sleep on my own…” He trailed off, not wanting to voice his fears. 

Sandy knew what he meant though, forming a golden fearling above his head. Jack was afraid of nightmares. He nodded. 

With Sandy’s help, Jack drifted off into his first real dream in more than a year.

…

Jack dreamed about Jamie. He wasn’t sure on the details, his memory was always fuzzy in dreams, but he thought there might have been other kids there. They were ice skating, which was nice. 

Jack looked down at the ice during a lull and noticed something. Cracks. Dark, black cracks deep beneath the ice, but steadily getting closer.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“I tried to talk to him again, but he just won’t tell me anything.” Tooth complained, beginning to pace. North nodded._
> 
> _“Maybe you guys should lay off of it.” Bunny interjected, “Just give him some space to open up.”  
> _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, school started again so that means more erratic updates (not that they were ever that stable in the first place). Thank you to everyone who's stuck with the story so far!

North extended an invitation to Jack, asking him to stay a few weeks. He wanted them to discuss how to gain him more believers, he wanted to teach Jack Guardian history and signals. More than that, he wanted Jack to be okay, but he hadn’t added that in the conversation. Jack was not himself.

Jack had accepted the invitation hesitantly. He did want to stay, after so long in the company of creatures other than The Wind, he craved contact. Over the first two weeks of his stay at the North Pole, his emotions became strange, hard to control or predict. He’d fly off, far away from the workshop, to send off blizzards and ice storms. He didn’t know why his emotions were so hard to control _now_ , why they were influencing his powers _now_. They hadn’t acted up like this when he was with Pitch, so why was he having such an issue when he’s safe and everyone was being so _nice_? 

It was strange, everyone’s niceness. Tooth had always been nice, if a little busy. Sandy had been nice as well, drifting to find him some nights to give him dreams. North and Bunny, however, hadn’t always been so kind. 

North had been being overly friendly the past few days, even more so than the previous Easter, when he’d first heard of his Guardian candidacy. He showed Jack around the Pole, gave him his own room, gave him a new hoodie almost identical to his old one (something which Jack appreciated, even though he didn’t show it. The attention to detail in the new item of clothing was remarkable), and tutored him on how to be a Guardian. He was shaping up to be a great mentor, and it scared Jack. Before all this, North had been too busy to see him at best, and angry at him for his tricks at worst. Jack was going insane, waiting for the other shoe to fall. 

As for Bunny, the pooka had just been avoiding the frost sprite. After his questions in the infirmary, he’d only talked to Jack when the other Guardians were around. He, like the others, had assured Jack that he would be there to listen should Jack ever need anyone, but the boy was sure it was a formality. Bunny’d never liked him much anyways, so he wasn’t sure why he was so stressed out about what he thought. 

With everyone walking on eggshells around him (including Baby Tooth, to Jack’s displeasure) Jack was just about going insane from the anxiety. Every time he did something even slightly off, they’d just smile benignly and tell him it was alright. When he’d freak out because they startled him, they began to announce their presence at all times, they only touched him _very_ gently, and those touches were only on his shoulders, when he would freeze things on accident they would whisper concernedly to each other but tell him he was fine. It was aggravating, it was weighing down his soul. He was sure that they were going to snap on him and he was determined to be prepared when they did. 

That didn’t mean that he complied with everything they asked of him, though. Despite how he told them that he’d talk when he wanted to talk, North and Tooth were very insistent that he open up as soon as possible. 

“Jack,” North said when he pulled him aside on one such occasion. The man had put his hand on Jack’s shoulder and for once hadn’t removed it when Jack flinched. “We are concerned for you. If you do not tell us how you were hurt, how are we supposed to know how to help you?” 

“It’s fine, North.” Jack said, brushing off the man’s hand. “I’m fine. All my cracks are healing.” 

“I’ll never be used to that.” North muttered with a hint of humor. He and the others got injured like other living beings (aside from Sandy, but he was always a weird one), and treating Jack had been a little weird, biology-wise. 

Jack cracked a small smile at the joke and escaped before North could ask any more questions.

…

"I’m worried about Jack.” Tooth said. It was fast becoming her greeting and opening remarks to all these secret Guardian meetings they’d been having behind the frost sprite’s back (for his own good, of course). 

“We all are.” North agreed. 

“I tried to talk to him again, but he just won’t tell me anything.” Tooth complained, beginning to pace. North nodded. 

“Maybe you guys should lay off of it.” Bunny interjected, “Just give him some space to open up.”

“Like you?” Tooth scoffed, “You don’t talk to him at all! He probably thinks you’re avoiding him!” 

“I’m not avoiding him, I’m letting him breathe!”

“Well he’s had plenty of space to breathe, what he _needs_ are people who listen to him!” 

“Have you noticed how quiet he is?” North asked, breaking up the argument, “He was never this quiet before. I do not think he has made a single joke or played a single prank.”

The Guardians considered this. 

“He hasn’t even had a snowball fight.” Tooth said, her voice laced with surprise.

Sandy signaled that he never told any jokes other than some with dark humor, from when the Sandman had been helping him change his bandages. The others were taken aback, as Sandy was the Guardian to whom Jack spoke the most. 

“I think this runs deeper than just some betrayal and Jack being beat up.” Bunny observed. 

“How close do you think Pitch and Jack were, before Jack found out he was using him?” Tooth asked. 

The Guardians all mumbled their consensus: they didn’t know.

… 

All of Jack’s avoidance came to a head one day, about a month into his stay. He was about to fly off, to throw out a few blizzards to the tundra (and maybe to see a few polar bears), when Tooth stopped him. 

“Jack, you need to talk to us.” She said. 

Jack turned to fly off anyways, he could have this conversation when he got back but now he needed to release his emotions, lest he hurt someone. He was about a foot off the ground when Tooth grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks. 

“Jack,” she pleaded, “Please, we just want to help. Why won’t you talk to any of us?” 

Something inside Jack snapped at that moment. Maybe it was his already pent-up emotions, maybe it was his anxiety over how they might treat him, and maybe it was just him trying to self destruct, but he ripped his wrist from her grip and glared coldly at her. 

“Really, Tooth? You want me to talk _now_? Why didn’t you want me to talk to you when I needed to? When Easter was ruined? Why didn’t any of you listen then?” His voice became a shout near the end of his little rant. Snow was swirling around them, dangerously threatening to become a storm, and they were still both about a foot off the ground, hovering. 

“Hey, don’t yell at Tooth like that!” Jack turned sharply to see Bunny standing in the doorway. “You made your choice that day, you can’t hold that against us.”

Tooth raised her hand to her mouth in shock and the Pooka even looked a bit like he wanted to take the words back, but he stood his ground. The wind whipped around them more violently, almost knocking Tooth from the air. 

“You think I had much of a choice? You guys weren’t going to accept me, I had to take the next best thing! I tried to protect _you_. I made him promise not to destroy you, I told him to give you at least three hundred believers, I tried so hard!” As Jack spoke, the wind continued to rise. Tooth landed for fear of being thrown from her position. 

“And you expected us to be okay with three hundred, huh?” Bunny asked. Tooth shot him a look like she couldn’t believe he was even talking as snow started to fall from the sky. 

“Was that not good enough? What do you want from me? What could you possibly ask me to give you now? Pitch took everything from me! He took my hopes and dreams, he took my freedom, he beat me every time he was angry. Every time you guys acted up and tried to get more believers, he would take it out on me. And the worst, oh the worst was-“

“Jack, maybe you should calm down.” Tooth suggested. It was snowing a lot at this point, and Jack had unconsciously risen higher into the air, looking down at them with what seemed to be pure loathing. Jack ignored her.

“The worst was before Easter. I tried to warn you! I tried to save myself. But you had to cause trouble. _You_ had to ask him what was going on, Tooth. Do you know what he did to me?” 

“No.” She whispered, backing up into Bunny’s chest, backing away from the stinging winds. 

“He locked me up in a cave and beat me and had his way with me until I wasn’t sure if I died.” Jack began. Tooth gasped audibly, but he persisted. “But then, I’d always thought death would be more peaceful than that. Then he snapped my staff. He took it away with him and I almost died for real that time, but for some reason I _didn’t_.” 

The Wind howled, almost begging him to stop and Jack’s voice cracked, but he continued, “And I escaped because I got my memories back and I knew I was a Guardian. I knew how to save Sandy. But I also knew that if I messed up or if you didn’t win, we’d all die that night. Pitch is not a forgiving man. And all I want is some peace, but can I get it? No. You just want more out of me, well this is it! This is all I’ve got. And I’m sorry if it isn’t good enough.”

With that, he flew into the sky, leaving Tooth and Bunny far beneath him. 

…

“Why did you say those things to him?” Tooth demanded angrily, once Jack had disappeared into the clouds. Bunny’s eyes were trained on the sky, to where Jack had disappeared in the snow. 

“I thought… I thought that if I got him angry he’d tell us what happened.” He admitted. 

“Well, you got what you wanted, are you happy?” 

Bunny’s ears drooped and he looked down, ashamed. “No. I’m not.”

“Well good.” Tooth said in a huff, turning to go. “I’m going to tell the others what happened. You’d better apologize to Jack when he comes back. _If_ he comes back.”

“I’m not the one he was mad at!” Bunny snapped. “You heard him, if you hadn’t said anything to Pitch, this never would have happened to him.”

Tooth put her hand over her heart, as though Bunny had physically wounded her. The Pooka realized what he said too late, and her face was already beginning to crumple. 

“You… he really blames me for that, doesn’t he?” She asked, her voice small in the silence left by the absence of the wind. Bunny lowly approached her and she put her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with sobs. He put his hand on her shoulder. 

“No, no I’m sure he doesn’t think badly of you.” He assured her, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that at all. There’s no way you could have known what would happen.” 

Tooth nodded into her hands and looked up at Bunny, before launching herself into his arms and crying into his shoulder. Aster felt awkward. He patted her back. 

“I’m so sick of worrying and being mad and all of this.” She told him, her face buried in his fur, “We all have to stop doing this.” 

“Yeah.” Bunny agreed. Tooth let go of him, to his relief, “Let’s go tell the others what happened.” 

… 

The Wind carried Jack high in the air. He took deep breaths, knowing he needed to get ahold of himself. He wanted to get away, far away from the North Pole. The Wind was taking him to Burgess, normally his favorite place this time of year, but he stopped her and directed her south. The Antarctic was where he needed to be, far away from the Guardians and safe from humans. 

He sent off blizzard after blizzard, the storms streaking across the land as he floated in the sky, screaming out his frustration. When he felt better, he landed in the middle of the tundra, surrounded by untouched snow. The Wind seemed to be kicking up the snow to his left, obscuring his vision. 

“What is it?” Jack asked, knowing The Wind’s tricks. The snow fell, almost like a sigh, and Jack saw it, the monument to his and Pitch’s agreement, a twisted, spiked tower of ice and nightmares. 

He walked towards it, almost reverent. It was beautiful, almost entrancingly so. He felt that he couldn’t take his eyes from it. It loomed above him, and he flew up to see what it might look like from the top. 

Jack paused halfway through his flight. In the middle, the ice was so reflective it looked like a mirror and he caught a glimpse of himself, the half-terror, half-wonder on his face. He stared at himself and he watched as his features turned strange from the trapped nightmare sand. They twisted into pain, sorrow, fear, and finally a dark humor. In his reflection he saw his own face morph from that twisted glee into Pitch, the man laughing silently at him, trapped in the statue. 

Jack backed up, afraid, but then he remembered. _He_ was the one who’d won, _he_ was more powerful, _he_ was a _Guardian_. He wouldn’t be frightened by a hallucination of a man. He roared and swung his staff, sending shards of ice through the fragile statue. The top of cracked and shattered, falling like icicles to the frozen ground below. 

Jack continued this way, until he was on the ground just blasting rubble. The Wind hovered around him, concerned, but didn’t try to stop him or get in his way. He almost snapped on her, but when he turned to face her he realized what he was about to do and went back to his work dismantling the structure that had sealed his fate with Pitch. 

…

The Guardians were concerned when Jack didn’t come back after a few hours. He normally came right back after his outbursts. North was mad, they could all tell he blamed Bunny for Jack’s lengthy disappearance, so Tooth suggested that they split up and look for him.

Sandy took the Antarctic. He knew the kid better than the others, who were checking what they thought were his “favorite haunts”, but Sandy knew where he went when he was upset, he’d seen him there many times over the past three hundred years. 

The swirling wind and snow was a good sign that he was close, though it made Sandy’s flight difficult. He landed once the winds were too strong and determinedly made his way to the eye of the storm, where he found Jack. He watched as the frost sprite surveyed his destruction, sitting on a pile of ice that looked too sharp to use as a seat. Jack was shaking, Sandy noticed. The boy dropped his staff and put his face in his hands, doubled over, and began to cry.

Sandy amped up his golden glow, hoping to signal to Jack that he wasn’t alone so that he didn’t startle him, and walked closer. He placed a hand on the sobbing boy’s shoulder. Jack stiffened, but didn’t tell him to move. After a few, long moments Jack removed his face from his hands and wiped his eyes. 

“I guess Tooth and Bunny told you what I said, didn’t they?” Jack asked. 

Sandy nodded. Jack nodded back, once, like he expected it. Sandy, unsure of what to do, started to run his fingers through Jack’s hair, like he would to a child. Jack flinched a little, but didn’t tell him to stop, and he even seemed to relax after a moment. Sandy supposed that Jack just wasn’t used to contact, that he’d like it after the first surprise. He’d have to tell the Guardians, so they’d stop avoiding touching him.

After a few moments Jack broke the silence. 

“I thought he loved me, Sandy.” He confessed, “After 300 years, someone finally loved me.”

It took all of Sandy’s efforts to not pause his movements, he knew Jack might take his surprise the wrong way. He wanted to talk to Jack, tell him that he was sorry that any of them ignored him for so long. 

“I thought I loved him too.” Jack whispered, “I think I still might, somewhere. Like maybe, if we were in another life, we were meant to be soulmates or something. If we’d only met at a different place, at the right time.” 

_“But you didn’t.”_ Sandy signed to him, even though he knew Jack couldn’t see. The sprite nodded anyways. 

“We didn’t, though.” He said with a sigh, like that was the end of that. Sandy stopped running his hand through the boy’s hair and walked around to face him. 

He slowly made three signs. The Guardians, a heart, and Jack. Jack scoffed. 

“You can’t speak for them. I’m sure Bunny is furious with me.” 

Sandy thought about that. Jack was right, he couldn’t speak for the Guardians (though he knew that what he said was true). He sent up three other signals. Himself, a heart, Jack. 

Jack’s whole face twitched, like he was unsure whether to laugh or cry. He reached out and grabbed Sandy into a hug, nearly crushing the air from his lungs. 

“I love you too, Sandman. Thanks for listening.” He said, before letting him go. One day, Sandy was going to need to teach the kid how to hug someone without hurting them, but today was not that day.

The wind had died down, so Sandy made a little cloud on the ground beneath them, floating them into the air. 

“Are we going back to the workshop?” Jack asked. 

Sandy nodded. Jack frowned a little. 

“Aren’t they going to be mad?” He asked. Sandy shook his head, but Jack didn’t seem to pay that any attention. He was looking off into space. They passed the rest of the trip home in silence. 

…

When they got back, the place was still empty. Sandy followed Jack to his room, where the frost sprite crawled into his bed. 

“Can I have some dreamsand, Sandy?” He asked. 

Sandy thought about saying no, he thought it would be good for him to talk to the other Guardians like he had with him, but the kid had had a rough day, so he tapped his forehead, allowing some sand to fall across the boy’s face. 

“Thanks, Sandman.” Jack said, with a yawn, “You’re the best.” 

Sandy sighed as he watched Jack’s dream. He could never really tell what exactly was going on in anyone’s dream, but he could watch the sand above their head and try to piece it together. It was Jack and what appeared to be a little tooth fairy wandering around, flying on The Wind. Jack was dreaming of his friends.

Sandy left the room. He went to the globe room and sent off a signal, calling the other Guardians home. And then, he just sat to wait.


End file.
